Sheffield Hallam University has announced that it is an official supporter of the Grand Départ 2014, the three-day spectacular that sees the Tour de France come to the UK in July.
The sponsorship agreement, which means Sheffield Hallam is the first ever university to partner with the Tour in this way, was announced today (17 February) by Vice-Chancellor Professor Philip Jones and Gary Verity from Welcome to Yorkshire.
The University has taken up this exclusive opportunity with ASO (organisers of the Tour de France) through Welcome to Yorkshire. This innovative new agreement will provide significant benefits for students, enabling them to be involved in the world’s greatest cycle race. It will provide more than 200 volunteering and participatory roles that they would be unable to experience at any other university.
The University has a long-established reputation in sport, running one of the UK’s largest ranges of sports degree programmes. It is also home to three world-class sports research centres, which have worked with governing bodies such as UK Sport and the Premier League, and with a variety of national teams and elite athletes on sports science programmes. Researchers recently won the contract to test goal-line technology in the Premier League and used their engineering skills to build a sled for daredevil Guy Martin to break the land speed world record.
This sport expertise has meant that students have been able to benefit from unique volunteering opportunities at major events, including the Beijing Olympics and Delhi Commonwealth Games, with over 200 Sheffield Hallam students taking up key roles at London 2012 – more than any other university. This new partnership with the Tour de France means that students will once again be able to benefit in this way, with a range of volunteer roles exclusively on offer to them.
The University is developing a full plan of activity as part of the sponsorship package that showcases its academic expertise and experience in art and design, sport, engineering, and events management, amongst others, aiming to bring the excitement of the race to Sheffield.
For the full story visit the Media Centre: http://www.shu.ac.uk/mediacentre/sheffield-hallam-announces-official-tour-de-france-partnership