April 24, 2007 (Fort William, Scotland) — Fort William World Championships Ltd, organisers of the UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships 2007 – powered by Nissan Sports Adventure – at Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, are delighted to announce that BBC Sport has been confirmed as the UK TV broadcast rights holder and TWI, an IMG Media Company, as the host broadcaster, with SMG Solutions as facilities provider for the event.

Mike Jardine, from Fort William World Championships Ltd, said, “We are delighted to have BBC Sport, TWI and SMG Solutions on board as part of the event’s extensive media campaign. We are sure that they will bring the World Championships to the forefront of the public eye throughout the world whilst profiling Scotland as one of the world’s foremost event destinations.”

“We are confident that the broadcast team will not only showcase the adrenaline fuelled action of this spectacular event, Fort William and Locahber’s excellent sporting infrastructure, facilities and passionate sporting community on an international stage, they will also highlight the Outdoor Capital of the UK’s stunning location and the vast range of tourism and adventure sports opportunities open to its growing annual visitor numbers.”

BBC Sport will broadcast two one-hour programs on the final weekend of the event. Michael Cole, Deputy Editor, BBC Sport, said, ‘BBC Sport is really pleased to be able to showcase this year’s Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships from Fort William. A World Championship taking place on home soil is always an exciting prospect and the fast and furious action in such a beautiful location makes it all the more enticing. With such a strong team of British riders, BBC viewers should have some GB medalists to watch in September.’

TWI, the sports production arm of the world’s premier sports, entertainment and media company IMG, has had considerable experience of host broadcasting. Last year it was Host Broadcaster for both the Melbourne Commonwealth Games and the Doha Asian Games, the largest and most complex Outside Broadcast operation in the world. TWI is also the world’s largest producer and distributor of sports programming and live events, distributing more than 11,000 hours annually.

Lawrence Duffy, TWI’s Head of Sport Development, said, “We are delighted to be working with Fort William World Championships Ltd and SMG to host broadcast what promises to be an eagerly-anticipated and keenly fought event, made even more exciting by the fact that it will be contested on home soil.”

Glasgow-based SMG Solutions will provide the host broadcast production team. SMG Solutions will bring the expertise of their world class team and the latest technology and techniques via their outside broadcast and production kit for the September event in a deal brokered by Fiona Crichton, Business Development Manager. The team will be producing the event live, reacting to the changing and fast-paced nature of the event and capturing all of the race action throughout the week.

Sean Duffy, Commercial Director of SMG Solutions said, “SMG Solutions is thrilled to be involved with such a high profile and exclusive event. We look forward to working with TWI and BBC Sport, and to the challenges an extremely fast-paced and boisterous event such as this will present. I’m confident that our talented team will do an excellent job.”

The first ever UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships to be staged in the UK, will take place at the Nevis Range and Leanachan Forest at Fort William from 3 to 9 September 2007. This annual competition, with the emphasis firmly on riding for country rather than for trade teams and sponsors, will feature over 700 of the World’s top riders from more than 50 nations. They will compete across the four main mountain bike disciplines of Cross Country, Downhill, 4-Cross and Trials, for a total of 19 World Championship titles. It is anticipated that the event will attract more than 40,000 spectators, from all over the UK and the rest of the world, on the main days of competition

2007 MTB Worlds Notes

The 2007 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships at Fort William in the Scottish Highlands — powered by Nissan Sports Adventure – the biggest, the most important and the best mountain bike event in the world — will be take place between 03 and 09 September 2007 – www.fortwilliamworldchamps.co.uk/

The new headline sponsor is Nissan Sports Adventure. The key partners behind the 2007 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships at Fort William are UK Sport, EventScotland, Highland 2007, VisitScotland, Forestry Commission Scotland, and Nevis Range.

The Nevis Range and Leanachan Forest, venue for the 2007 World Championships, has successfully hosted rounds of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup from 2002 to 2006 (The World Cup Finals 2005). The venue has won a number of media and industry awards for these events. The Nevis Range and Leanachan Forest facility, is spectacularly located beside Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest mountain, and has World-class downhill, cross country and 4–cross tracks – with more than 50km of cross country trails to ride in Forestry Commission Scotland’s Leanachan Forest.

Accommodation Booking — Tel: 0845 2255121 (+44 1506 832121 outside UK) / www.visithighlands.com / Tourist Information Centre, Fort William – Tel. +44 (0)1397 703781 / www.visitscotland.com / www.visit-fortwilliam.co.uk

Tickets are on sale now — +44 (0)1397 705825 – www.fortwilliamworldchamps.co.uk/

The UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships at Fort William will be one of the highlights of the Highland 2007 programme — the year Scotland celebrates Highland culture – www.highland2007.com

Useful Websites
– The UCI Mountain Bike & trials World Championships at Fort William –www.fortwilliamworldchamps.co.uk/
– The UCI (International Cycle Union) Website — www.uci.ch
– The British Cycling Website – www.britishcycling.org.uk
– Nissan Europe – www.nissan-europe.com/
– UK Sport – www.uksport.gov.uk/
– EventScotland – www.eventscotland.org/
– Forestry Commission Scotland — www.forestry.gov.uk
– Highland 2007 – www.highland2007.com
– VisitScotland – Adventure sports in Scotland — www.visitscotland.com/adventure
– Nevis Range – www.nevisrange.co.uk
– Outdoor Capital of the UK – www.outdoorcapital.co.uk

About IMG and TWI
IMG is the world’s premier Sports, Entertainment and Media Company. IMG is a diversified global business with two major business segments: IMG Sports & Entertainment, and IMG Media. IMG employs over 2,700 people in 30 countries. Forstmann Little & Co. purchased IMG in 2004.

IMG Sports & Entertainment includes: consulting services; event ownership and management; fashion events and models representation; licensing; golf course design; client representation in golf, tennis, broadcasting, speakers, European football, rugby, cricket, motorsports, coaching, Olympic sports and action sports. In addition, IMG Academies is the world’s largest and most advanced, state-of-the-art, multi-sport training and educational facility, delivering world-class sports training experiences to over 12,000 junior, collegiate, adult and professional athletes each year.

IMG Media, which includes our content production subsidiaries TWI, Darlow Smithson Productions (DSP) and Tiger Aspect Productions (TAP), is recognized as a global leader in the delivery of traditional and new media content and services, with Internet, broadband and mobile expertise, transforming how audiences access and interact with content.

IMG Media produces and distributes over 11,000 hours of sports, documentary, drama, comedy, entertainment, popular factual and children’s content annually, over multiple platforms across 220 countries, including award-winning television and radio programming. It also represents the broadcast rights to many of the world’s premier sporting events and has the world’s biggest sports archive with more than 250,000 hours of footage.

More information about IMG is available at www.imgworld.com, www.darlowsmithson.com and www.tigeraspect.co.uk