"The Free Flow Tour is as important as anything we are doing at Alli; we are providing amateur athletes an ascension path to the pros and identifying the rising stars of action sports," said Wade Martin, CEO of Alli. "Gatorade is the ideal partner to support the growth of action sports and elevate the Gatorade Free Flow Tour to the next level."
"Supporting action sports at a grassroots and amateur level is where we want to make a mark in this space," said Jeff Urban, senior vice president of sports marketing for Gatorade. "The Free Flow Tour is an amazing platform for talented young riders to use as a launching pad to the next level."
Gatorade sponsors three action sports athletes: skateboarder Chaz Ortiz, snowboarder Ellery Hollingsworth and BMX rider Nigel Sylvester. The Free Flow Tour partnership is a marquee element of Gatorade's larger brand presence in action sports.
Also launching will be the Gatorade Free Flow Tour website, which joins the Dew Tour, Winter Dew Tour, King of Wake, Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship and Maloof Money Cup within the Allisports.com family of sites. The Free Flow Tour website will include up-to-date information on upcoming Free Flow Tour events and results as well as video highlights and original programming from both summer and winter events.
The Free Flow Tour is the official amateur series of the Dew Tour and the Winter Dew Tour and provides amateur athletes the prospect of professional sponsorship and recognition by the pros. Previous Free Flow Tour winners include reigning skate park Dew Cup champion Ortiz, who is now among the professional ranks, and pro BMX park rider Mike Spinner, who finished the Dew Tour ranked second overall in 2007 and '08.