Many parallels

Jeroen Visscher, managing partner at Turner, sees many parallels between marathon skaters and Turner’s organizational consultants: “As specialists in Strategy Execution, we know how to achieve ambitious results and what that entails in terms of teamwork and perseverance, together with our clients. I recognize that in these young women. They demonstrate what you can achieve with this mindset, in addition to their professional careers.”

Many highlights

Coach Jan-Martien van de Wetering summarizes the highlights of the past three years: “We’re proud of the gold medals at the Alternative Elfstedentocht—in 2017 for Lisa and in 2019 for Iris. Add to that Lisa’s victory at the 2018 Dutch Open Championship and Iris’s win at the 2017–2018 KPN Cup. Merel Bosma also claimed her first victory last season. Junior champion Dieuwertje van Kalken joined the team last season and immediately placed fourth at the Dutch National Mass Start Championship. In short, there have been many highlights, and we remain just as ambitious for the upcoming season.”

Inspiring for Relationships

“It fits with Turner’s athletic spirit to partner with this top-tier team,” adds Patrick Eppink, who is responsible for sponsorship at Turner. “For example, we’ve been organizing the Tour de Turner for eleven years now—a large-scale cycling event for our business partners. We also regularly take business partners behind the scenes at top teams such as Real Madrid and Ajax. We want to actively involve the women in these kinds of events because their stories inspire us and our business partners. In addition, we believe it’s important to support entrepreneurial elite athletes.”

Mutual trust

Lisa van der Geest looks back on January 30, when the previous main sponsor, mkbasics.nl, announced its departure. “It was the day before Iris van der Stelt won the Alternative Elfstedentocht. As a team, we were determined to keep going, so we rolled up our sleeves and worked hard to attract a new sponsor. Turner recognized and appreciated that attitude, and that fosters mutual trust.”

Turner has signed a one-year contract, with the intention of committing to the team as the main sponsor for the long term. Other sponsors are staying on: CMP for apparel, Cádomotus for equipment, Torq for sports nutrition, and Cannondale is providing its latest road bikes and mountain bikes, ensuring the women will be well-prepared when the season kicks off in October.