ROKA Sports Inc has added another pro triathlete to its roster of sponsored athletes with a multi-year sponsorship with three-time World Champion Melissa Hauschildt.
(The addition of Melissa Hauschildt as a sponsored athlete comes hot on the heels of a multi-year sponsorship deal with Olympic Bronze Medallist and 2 x ITU World Champion Emma Moffatt through to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.)
“I’m very excited to be working with ROKA,” Hauschildt said. “I have just started, but in testing the products I have already seen my times dramatically fall in the pool. I’m very impressed with the entire product line. I knew these guys were onto something, but they didn’t stop at just wetsuits. The Viper swimskins and SIM shorts are amazing. I’m really excited to see what I can do in a race.”
Melissa Hauschildt is an Australian professional triathlete and former middle distance runner, who specialised in steeplechase. She is the winner of the 2011 and 2013 Ironman 70.3 World Championship as well as the 2013 ITU Long Distance Triathlon champion.
ROKA CEO & Co-Founder, Rob Canales said, “We’re thrilled to welcome Melissa Hauschildt to ROKA. In just three years in the sport, Mel has won two Ironman 70.3 world titles and shown herself to be dominant at the 70.3 distance. As a former elite steeplechaser, Mel has blazing run splits and in a short period of time has developed a wicked bike capability that threatens some of the strongest in the sport.
“With a transition to Ironman racing and a possible Kona start on the horizon in coming years, a solid non-wetsuit swim will be important to get Mel’s day started off well. Our products help elite and developing swimmers alike, so we’re confident we can help Mel elevate her swim. We believe she will be a fantastic ambassador for ROKA.”
Hauschildt added, “Coming from a non-swimming background and being a runner I’ve always sunk in the water. When I try to swim faster I actually swim at the same speed but with much more effort. When I looked into ROKA I continually read ‘swim faster with less effort’. That’s what I need!”
Hauschildt joints ROKA’s growing team of champion female pros, including 2x Olympian Laura Bennett, 11x Iron-distance & 3x 70.3 Champion Gina Crawford, Ironman 70.3 World Champion & 3x XTERRA World Champion Julie Dibens, 2013 Kona Runner-up & Ironman/Challenge winner Rachel Joyce, 5x Ironman Champion Meredith Kessler, Olympic Bronze Medallist and 2x ITU World Champion Emma Moffatt and others.
Hauschildt will wear ROKA’s Maverick Pro Wetsuit, Viper Pro Speed Suit, SIM Pro Shorts and other racing and training products in development. She is represented by Evan Gallagher at BPM-Sport Athlete Management (BAM).
ROKA is a performance multisport brand that was founded in 2011 by two former All-American swimmers from Stanford University, who, after being frustrated by the wetsuit offerings on the market, set out to make ‘the fastest wetsuit on the planet’. After two years of product development, the ROKA team launched their patent-pending Maverick wetsuit, Viper swimskin and SIM short training line in March 2013.
In its first season, ROKA products saw widespread acceptance by elite and developing swimmers alike, and ROKA pro athletes finished first out of the water at the Ironman World Championship, the ITU WTS Grand Final, the Hy-Vee 5150 Elite Cup Championship, several Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races, and more.
ROKA is based in Dallas, Texas with employees in California and Colorado.
