April 26, 2016 (Boulder, Colorado) – Following two highly successful seasons, Allen Krughoff and Meredith Miller, co-owners, co-managers and the two-rider roster of the Noosa Professional Cyclocross Team, announced on Tuesday, April 26 an end to their partnership with noosa yoghurt.
Noosa yoghurt, the program’s title sponsor for the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 seasons, intends to stay involved with the cycling community; however, their involvement will no longer be in the form of title sponsorship to a professional program. Miller, who recently launched Recon Communications, a cycling-specific communications agency, retired from professional racing in January. Krughoff will continue racing cyclocross professionally this fall, under a new banner, yet to be announced.
“We have enjoyed two wonderful years as the title sponsor of the Noosa Professional Cyclocross Team,” said Koel Thomae, founder of noosa yoghurt. “Though this season will mark the end of our official sponsorship, this partnership has introduced noosa yoghurt to the cyclocross community in a big way, and we will be lifelong fans of the sport. We will continue to be supporters of the cycling community, and we wish Allen Krughoff and Meredith Miller continued success.”
“Our partnership with Noosa has been such a great fit these past two seasons,” said Krughoff. “Working with a yoghurt company as your title sponsor is a learning experience and a challenge! That said, I think we’ve proven that a non-endemic partnership can be very successful in cyclocross. Noosa yoghurt provided us with a backing to get their brand in front of a new audience and we drove it home between creative product integrations and podiums. I’m really happy we could put together what we did with the support of a great company and the people behind it. Their willingness to initially sign off on the proposed cyclocross program is something I’m really grateful for.”
“Two years ago when Allen and I took on the task of building our own team, I never would have imagined that we would have found a sponsor so supportive,” said Miller. “Noosa yoghurt welcomed us with open arms and was instrumental in helping us get the program off the ground in 2014. It’s rare to find non-endemic sponsors in the cycling world, so for them to sign-on again in 2015 was huge for our program and for cyclocross. The two years we spent flying the Noosa banner was a true honor for which I will forever be grateful.”
MEREDITH – WHAT COMES NEXT
Following nearly two decades of racing, first on the road and then in the mud, Miller ended her career as a professional cyclist at the 2016 UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Zolder-Heusden, Belgium in late January. From Belgium to the beach, Miller took a two-week trip to Hawaii with her husband and her parents to celebrate her retirement and then immediately jumped into her next chapter at Recon Communications, a cycling-specific communications agency.
“Prior to starting the Noosa Pro Cyclocross Team, I had been contemplating retirement,” said Miller. “After the 2013 road season, I retired from full-time road racing, but my fire for cyclocross had not been extinguished. Instead of alternating back and forth between a long road season and an intensive cyclocross season, I was able to solely focus on cyclocross for another two years. During the 2015-16 season it really sunk in that as I get older, the rest of the field is getting younger and faster! It was the right time to walk away from professional racing.”
“Having been involved in cycling for nearly 20 years, my heart is firmly attached to the community that I have called family for so long, so I intend to stay in the industry but on the other side of the tape,” said Miller. “For the last several months I have been steadily building Recon Communications. The agency specializes in editorial, social media, media management and strategic communications for cycling teams, riders, brands, publications, governing bodies and events.”
ALLEN – WHAT COMES NEXT
After wrapping up his second appearance on the Team USA at the Cyclocross World Championships in February, Allen took a break from riding but his mind did not. Already on the flight home he was working on budgets and ideas for a revamped cyclocross program for the next season. He filled most of his non-riding training in February with backcountry ski touring and coordinating photography and video work, which he does outside of ‘cross.
“For the coming season, I’m already back to a full training load – September will be here before you know it,” said Krughoff. “I’m going to be riding for an existing program, bringing with me the knowledge of what made our Noosa CX team so well known in an effort to really bump up that program. My role is the team captain – incorporating team partner-relations management and being the point person with our PR team. It’s incredibly rewarding to run your own program but it’s undeniably harder to do. I loved running the Noosa program with Meredith but am also excited to see what I can do without the added management workload in races this coming season.”
FAREWELL
It is with great pride and fond memories that Krughoff and Miller embark upon independent paths, and it is with deep gratitude that they bid farewell to noosa yoghurt.
“It won’t be long from now when I’ll look back on the countless hours we spent grinding away at partnership proposals, marketing reports, logistics planning, kit design and everything else with fondness despite how tiring it may have been at the time,” said Krughoff. “Noosa was a fantastic brand to partner with on this. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of building your own ship and setting sail – then on top of it, getting compliments from other pro ‘cross teams on how well it’s being done. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to call Meredith my partner in crime these past two years and am deeply thankful for everyone who supported us, and the team. Our team partners made it possible and the support of the greater cyclocross family across the country was astounding. I can’t imagine a having a better experience to bring with me in the next chapter of my racing.”
“Of all the teams that I have been on throughout my career, nothing compares to owning, managing and riding for my own team,” said Miller. “Without a doubt, Noosa CX is my proudest achievement. Working with Allen was a terrific experience, and we made a fantastic team in every sense of the word. I am incredibly grateful to Allen, noosa yoghurt, my husband, and my friends and family for all the support and encouragement they have given me over these last two years and all the years before. I might be walking away from professional racing, but I will always be a cyclist at heart. I know that I will always find a home in the sport.”
Ride on!
Allen and Meredith
