Athlete gains top sports sponsor after PledgeSports campaign

Sports sponsor signs athlete after Pledge Sports sponsorship campaign

IRELAND international triathlete Kevin Thornton, who funded most of last season via PledgeSports, has gained a new sports sponsor.

The athlete is set to be sponsored by warm-weather training camp Tenerife Top Training this term.

Thornton’s 2014 was hampered by injuries, but he finished on a high with victory in Tenerife Top Training’s Teide Xtreme leading to big results in Dubai and Bahrain.

He said: “I flew out around Tuesday for a race in Seville and found out on the Thursday that it was cancelled. It was my first race back since a very serious achilles injury so I was very keen to race. Instead of flying home I got online and searched anywhere I could do a race in the vicinity.

“The nearest I could find was in Tenerife, which was on the Saturday, so I got in contact and asked for an entry. They sorted out everything, all I had to do was get myself on to the island and they would do the rest, which was amazing.

“Tenerife Top Training [his new sports sponsor], the organisers, who had looked after me so well, setting up everything, stayed in touch with me after I won their race and they put together a package for me for this year. It’s been a blessing that race in Seville being cancelled.”

Thanks to his new sports sponsor, the Galway native has spent much of 2015 training in Tenerife, focusing on running base miles that he lacked last year due to a damaged achilles.

He’s also been swimming and running though, keeping fellow Irish international Bryan Keane company as he eyes the European Middle Distance Triathlon Championships in Rimini in May and Ironman 70.3 in Dublin in August.

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