Newspaper Story: Our Client Darren Weeks, Founder & CEO of Fast Track To Cash Flow was interviewed about  the Canadian Luge Team $1,000,000 performance bonus they can possibly win at the 2010 Winter Olympics. http://vancouver2010.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/canadian-luge-gets-offer-it-cant-refuse/

Wire  Story: Our Client Darren Weeks, Founder & CEO of Fast Track To Cash Flow was interviewed about  the Canadian Luge Team $1,000,000 performance bonus they can possibly win at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news-features/news/newsid=407869.html

Canadian sponsor to pay $1 million for luge gold

The gold medal for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games will be a pretty penny for a Canadian luger who wins one.

WHISTLER, B.C. (AP) - A Canadian luge gold medal will be worth $1 million, thanks to a team sponsor.

Fast Track Group, an Alberta-based company that bills itself as a financial education specialist, is putting up $1 million for a Canadian gold, to be split between the champion Canadian luger and the Canadian Luge Association.

The company also is offering $50,000 for silver and bronze, plus $5,000 for the top Canadian in each luge event.

A medal is considered a long shot. The team’s best hopes are Calgary sliders Alex Gough and Sam Edney.

The 22-year-old Gough is ranked seventh in the world; the 25-year-old Edney is ranked 15th.

The Canadian Olympic Committee also has promised a medals bonus, with $20,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.

TV Interview: Our Client Darren Weeks, Founder & CEO of Fast Track To Cash Flow was interviewed about  the Canadian Luge Team $1,000,000 performance bonus they can possibly win at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Newspaper Story: Our Client Fast Track To Cash Flow was interviewed about  the Canadian Luge Team $1,000,000 performance bonus they can possibly win at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Canadian lugers offered $1m incentive to strike gold

Thursday 11th February 2010

From Sportsbeat staff, in Vancouver

CANADA’S lugers have had a million dollar golden carrot dangled in front of them as added incentive to capture a gold medal in Vancouver.

Team sponsors Fast Track Group are offering one million Canadian dollars (approximately £600,000) to finish on top of the podium as well as $50,000 for a silver or bronze medal and $5,000 for the highest placed Canadian.

The top prize would be split between the athlete and the Canadian Luge Association and the motivation will remain in place for the 2014 Games in Sochi.

But despite such a generous offer, Canada’s top lugers will be hard pushed to claim a medal in an event which has received little funding over recent years.

Whereas alpine skaters, figure skaters, snowboarders and speedskaters can receive six-figure sponsorship deals in Canada, athletes in other Olympic sports have often been left to fund themselves.

Two such athletes are Alex Gough and Sam Edney – the highest ranked Canadian lugers – who have had to rely largely on money raised themselves.

But despite this, Gough has finished in the top six at World Cup events four times this year and agonizingly came fourth at last year’s World Championships.

Currently ranked seventh in the world, the 22-year-old, who was 20th at Turin 2006, says she will not be focusing on the money.

“We still have to go out there and do our job,” she said.

“It’s just about going out there and sliding and doing the best we can.

“If we can put it down and slide to our potential, we do have a shot but in the end it’s really out of our hands.”

Edney finished a career-best fifth to kick off this season’s World Cup in Calgary and also managed a seventh place finish in Cesana.

The 25-year-old was 12th in Whistler in the pre-Olympic test event last year and is ranked 15th in the world.

“All of us going into the Olympics are not thinking about this million dollars,” said Edney.

“We come here to compete, represent our country, and go for the best results you can.

“If that turns out to be a gold medal, what that is and what that is worth is more than what they are offering as a bonus.

“At the same time, that kind of support and push is unbelievable and it definitely lights something in each of us.”

Radio Interview: Our Client Darren Weeks, Founder & CEO of Fast Track To Cash Flow was interviewed about  the Canadian Luge Team $1,000,000 performance bonus they can possibly win at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

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TV Interview: Our Client Darren Weeks, Founder & CEO of Fast Track To Cash Flow was interviewed about  the Canadian Luge Team $1,000,000 performance bonus they can possibly win at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

TV Interview: Our Client Darren Weeks, Founder & CEO of Fast Track To Cash Flow was interviewed about  the Canadian Luge Team $1,000,000 performance bonus they can possibly win at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

TV Interview: Our Client Darren Weeks, Founder & CEO of Fast Track To Cash Flow was interviewed about  the Canadian Luge Team $1,000,000 performance bonus they can possibly win at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/canadians-offered-million-dollar-jackpot-for-gold_441009.html

Canadians offered million dollar jackpot for gold

Canada’s luge team will have gold medals and dollar signs flashing before their eyes when they push off down Whistler’s sliding track on Saturday.

Members of the team, once so hard-up that they competed with “for sale” signs emblazoned across their crash helmets, have been promised one million Canadian dollars by Alberta-based Fast Track Group should they win a gold medal.

The jackpot, which would be shared between the athlete and the national federation, may be a long-shot as Canada is seeking its first Olympic medal of any colour in the sport, but it added some sparkle to the eyes of the 10-strong team on Tuesday as they prepared for action.”It’s huge for us to be offered that kind of thing,” women’s singles hope Alex Gough, a genuine medal prospect after a fourth place in last year’s world championships, told reporters.

“It’s a bonus, if it happens it would be awesome but when you are racing there’s only one thing on your mind and that’s having the best four runs of my life, whether there’s a million dollars waiting at the end of it or not.”

‘LIFE-CHANGING’
Team mate Regan Lauscher said the announcement had been a shock. “It hasn’t really processed in my brain yet,” she said. “It would be life-changing that’s for sure. I would buy back my motorcycle that got stolen!”

Sam Edney, tipped by none other than defending men’s champion Armin Zoeggeler as a potential threat, said it showed that Canadian tobogganing was on the up.

“It’s an amazing idea. Unbelievably generous. Less than a year ago we had no sponsor, now we have a group of people who believe in us so much that they are prepared to put that sort of money on the line,” he said.

“We are not thinking about the million dollars, we come to compete and do our best for the country and if that means a gold medal then what that is and what that’s worth is more than what they are offering.”

Ian Cockerline, who along with Edney and Jeff Christie are nicknamed the Three Musketeers, was a little more direct. “It’s certainly a lot of fun thinking about what I would do with the 500,000 dollars,” he said.

A silver or bronze medal would earn 50,000 Canadian dollars while the best performing athletes in the three disciplines will pocket 5,000 dollars.

The men’s singles medals will be decided on Sunday with the women’s singles concluding on Tuesday and the doubles Wednesday.