Hello! Exciting times, as the UK gears up for... Well, I'm  not sure what we're gearing up for. But it's exciting times, anyway.

In an extremely positive move, Prostar is now distributing Linebreak's excellent compression base layers from their Wakefield base of operations. The non-exclusive deal kicks off with the launch of Prostar's new catalogue at the end of March, though customers can contact Prostar immediately about product if they wish.

OPRO have been manufacturing custom-fit mouthgaurds for over 10 years for the home nation's rugby teams as well as all the Guinness Premiership teams.

The sports trade is mourning the loss of David Spensley who passed away on Saturday, March 7th after a short illness. David, who held senior sales and marketing posts with a number of sports brands, died peacefully at home, aged 60. David's career in the sports trade began at Brooks and continued at Gola, Umbro, Ligne 7, uhlsport and most recently Power Bar.

Ultimate Rugby Sevens, the most comprehensive media channel for the game of Rugby Sevens, is spearheading the bid to get rugby into the 2016 Olympics for the first time since the 1924 Paris Games.

Innovative swim brand Aqua Sphere has been chosen as the Official Swim Kit Partner to The Great Swim Series, a breakthrough series of outdoor swims which include The Great North Swim, the biggest open water mass participation swimming event in Britain. The inaugural event in 2008 proved so successful that event organiser Nova is extending the event over two days for 2009, providing up to 5000 swimmers with the chance to take part over the weekend of 12th and 13th September. Other Great Swims are being planned across the UK to create an exciting series.

Speedo and British Swimming are teaming up for a partnership deal which will run until 2016; this follows their previous four-year relationship and marks the longest association British Swimming has had with a swimwear brand.

Despite the reports of doom and gloom in the High Street, Allied Partners have been extremely busy, with a series of shows and stockrooms throughout December, January and February.

Zoggs has launched new and improved Predator and Phantom goggle families.

The Phantom family has been expanded and upgraded to offer the adult Phantom, new Junior Phantom (6-14yrs), Little Phantom (6yrs and under) and new Phantom Kids Mask (4-8yrs) with Curved Lens Technology, for improved all round vision and a natural option for the first time swimmer as a first step into wearing goggles.

Gatorade, the world's most researched sports drink, is to launch a new classic British flavour this April - Blackcurrant. Like all other Gatorade flavours in the UK, blackcurrant will be free from artificial colours, flavours, sweeteners and preservatives.

The Buying Show for Q4 2009 will be held on Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 March and, once again, promises to be a lively and interactive meeting between Members and Suppliers. A drive to invite potential new Members proved successful, with representatives from independent stores from across the country booked to attend presentations on both days of the show.

The All England Open Badminton Championships 2009 are being held at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham this week and Slazenger S1 sports drinks have been named as the official sports drink for the championships.

There are unquestionable benefits to joining a buying group, but it's also true to say that it's not for every retailer. Careful consideration is vital when considering such a move, as Lesley Maynard, owner and manager of In Training, located in Haslemere, Surrey, discovered.

As part of the communications programme that global trade show ispo has been focussing on in the UK, the continued development of its customer service for exhibitors has been highlighted as a vital focal point. While ispo has a superb and highly efficient Munich-based team and online exhibitor area that reflects the success and ongoing growth of the global sports trade show, for UK customers having a fully dedicated and home-based exhibitor support service is essential. Consequently a UK based customer service specialist has joined the team as Exhibitor Service Manager, working alongside Communications Manager Lauren Fox who runs the UK and Ireland Information Centre.

The recent ispo China exhibition, held between February 19 and 21, attracted over 13,500 sports trade professionals, a 17 per cent rise on last year's figure. The event enjoyed a synergistic relationship with Alpitec China and offered a complete range of wintersports products, a fifth China Outdoor Retailing Conference, and the fourth Asia Pacific Snow Conference.

Triathlon has come a long way since its beginnings in 1974 - in the UK there are clubs in every major town from Cornwall to Orkney. The appeal of the sport is that it gives you a full body exercise, so swimming is upper body and chest orientated and running / biking is lower legs, hips and waist.

Derek Price, managing director of rubber ball manufacturers J Price, gets straight to the point. "Is squash still left as a sport?" is the rhetorical question from the man whose company was established in 1936. "Squash these days is 35-40% of what it was in its heyday, in the eighties and up to the mid-nineties, and the sport has been on a permanent decline ever since. People have started to do other things with their time. A lot of squash courts have become gyms, and privately owned squash clubs have gone out of business in their hundreds. Squash has gone back to where it was 30 or 40 years ago, when only the real enthusiasts played the game."

As played by world number one Karim Darwish, the Xenon 135 CT features Head's new Corrugated technology. Corrugated rails have been built into the racket shaft with a view to generating up to 12% more stiffness, for extra torsion and power. The Xenon 135 CT is one of six rackets in the new CT line.

Dunlop's new Aerogel 4D Ultimate is designed with the better player in mind. Amr Shabana's racket of choice, Dunlop claims its Aerogel delivers peerless strength to weight ratio for enhanced stiffness and maximum power. There are two models: Aerogel Evolution 120 and Aerogel 4D Max, with the 120 being the lightest racket Dunlop has ever produced, with a raw frame weight of 120g.

Built with much bigger holes, or Speedports, around the head of the frame than other rackets, Prince claims its 03 Speedport Black can move through the air up to 24% faster than other rackets, and the Speedports are also designed to allow the sweet spot of the racket to be enlarged into what Prince calls its ‘Sweetzone'.

Wilson's new 2 (K)B range is based on the (K) Factor, which runs across squash and badminton, but with different proprietary technological advances for each sport. The squash rackets feature a stronger (K)arophite Black material; (K) Zone power holes and grooves; a more stable (K)ontour yoke; a (K)ontour frame, and FX Quad shaft geometry for improved control. The range features eight models.

Karakal has introduced two GTi frames for 2009. They have Power Wings built into the shaft for extra playability and stability. The GTi 120 GEL is made with Superlight High Impact Dispersion Nano Titanium Gel, combined with graphite and titanium, with a view to maximising stability. When the racket strikes the ball, Karakal says the impact is absorbed and dispersed over the entire frame.

J price has made squash balls in England since the 1930s, but primarily for other brands. The Price own-brand balls have been approved by the SRA and passed the test set by the WSF. Exported globally, Price makes balls in White (yellow speed), Green (all speeds) and Black (all speeds).

Carlton now has three premium ranges: Air Rage for players in search of power; Air Blade for those looking for control, and Vapour Trail, for players hoping for a balance between power and control. Nathan Robertson is playing the 84-gram Vapour Trail Tour, which is made from Japanese HM carbon, and comes complete with XTreme Tension.

Head says its four new PowerHelix models - 5000, 7000, 8000 and 10,000 - are 56% more flexible than standard carbon thanks to the PowerHelix spiral structure which runs along the entire shaft, without losing control. The increased flexibility is designed to maximise the power release of shots.

For badminton, Wilson's ‘(K) Factor', which incorporates five new technological advances: a stronger (K)arophite Black frame; a more stable (K)ontour joint; a stiffer (K)onstruction; a new (K)ap for greater shaft flexibility, and a power (K)ick shaft for a lower kick point. 2(K)B features 10 models.

Benefiting from similar technology to its sister rackets in squash, the 03 Speedport Black has speedports around the head of the frame, which allows the racket head to move up to 24% faster through the air than traditional frames, with the sweetspot expanded by up to 59% for form a ‘sweetzone'.

Karakal's range of 11 rackets for 2009 includes a pair of new additions, the Tour GEL and Tour Lite GEL. Both rackets feature Karakal's new Superlight High Impact Dispersion Nano Titanium Gel, which is designed to disperse impact over the entire racket frame.

When you've become head of HEAD UK, you've got a career to talk about and a wealth of valuable knowledge to share. So let's hear from Dave Shaw. He was appointed General Manager of the UK division in January, in succession to Jeremy Sherwood who has been promoted to the international board in a new role as executive director global sales and marketing. Another recent strategic change sees the appointment of Helen McHugh who takes up the role of Promotions Manager.

I'm putting on my rose tinted glasses, forgetting the financial woes of the world, challenging trading conditions and grey skies to head off for the French Alps.  Pretending all is right with the world shouldn't be too hard once I'm lying back on the hotel's sundeck with a glass of glüwein looking up at Mount Blanc.  Sadly, actually being able to ski may be a little more testing. 

I'm looking forward to the OS Outdoors Show, though by the time you read this it will probably have finished. The attendance figures last year were incredible, and it shows that there is a real thirst for the outdoors in the UK. I suspect figures this year will be the same or even better, as we keep being told that people are planning domestic holidays this year instead of going abroad.

Louise Ramsay has been appointed Director of the Outdoor Industries Association, taking up the reins early March.

The brand new OTS 2009 website is now live and contains all the essential information you need to know about the show. From travel to accommodation you don't need to look any further to ensure a productive trip to the UK 's biggest outdoor trade event. Register for the event online and have tickets delivered straight to your door, so you don't waste any time filing in registration forms when you arrive at the event.

Staff at outdoor gear company Berghaus are mourning the loss of their colleague Lisa Marriner (née Smith), who died in February at the age of 37.

A Cumbria-based outdoor activities business has been awarded Academy Provider status by the National Skills Academy for Sport and Active Leisure. As Academy Provider, JEM Training will play an important role in delivering the skills required by the outdoor sector.

Lowe Alpine UK's MD David Udberg says that last year the subsidiary saw its most profitable results for 10 years driven by a combination of solid growth and effective cost control. The company has recently gained ISO9001 accreditation plus a regional environmental accolade through the Cumbria Business Environment Network (CBEN) award. Udberg says that improvement will not rest there, with further ISO management standards likely to be pursued going forward.

As part of the communications programme that global trade show ispo has been focussing on in the UK, the continued development of its customer service for exhibitors has been highlighted as a vital focal point. While ispo has a superb and highly efficient Munich-based team and online exhibitor area that reflects the success and ongoing growth of the global sports trade show, for UK customers having a fully dedicated and home-based exhibitor support service is essential. Consequently a UK based customer service specialist has joined the team as Exhibitor Service Manager, working alongside Communications Manager Lauren Fox who runs the UK and Ireland Information Centre.

Top outdoor recreation digital map provider Memory-Map has launched its groundbreaking Digital Map Shop [DMS], which enables users to easily select and download bespoke areas of mapping for their PC, laptop or Pocket PC.

Bridgedale, the technical sock brand, has won Gold in the walk Reader Awards for the fifth consecutive year, named Best Walking Sock.

Craghoppers have announced another record year, achieving over 30 per cent increase in turnover. All divisions within the company have performed extremely well with wholesale opening 75 new key accounts. In addition to this, they also saw a huge growth of 60 per cent in export, with Germany doing particularly well.

Murray Macintyre has been promoted to Country Manager for Silva Ltd in the UK. Murray joined Silva Ltd in 2001 bringing with him over 20 years experience in sales and distribution within the leisure market.

Lifeventure's range of Trek Towels has grown with the new Hydrofibre Towel which uses the technical know-how of base layers to effectively remove moisture. Lifeventure's new Hydrofibre towel packs down small - think the size of a small camera - yet will absorb six times its own weight in water. Made from technical base layer fabric, it uses two layers for extra absorbency.

Fusing typical Vango functionality and fun styling is Vango's brand new Kid's Trail rucsac range, which includes three brand new rucsacs: the Hop, the Skip and the Jump. Each bag is made from a dense and hard wearing fabric: Excel 600 denier textured or printed polyester.

Haglöfs has added new models to their line-up, with four new models completing the extensive line.

This stove really deserves its name: The EtaPackLite is the smallest and lightest stove for two from Primus' award winning EtaPower series. Even more exciting is its low fuel consumption. Efficiency has been the focus of attention in Primus' stove-research efforts for years. With an outstanding efficiency rate of 80%, the EtaPower series units guarantee fast boiling times and less fuel consumption. Thus, Primus reduces the total weight and packing volume as well as the environmental impact!

SRP: £35

Specs:

• Outer-layer: 93% Polyester 7% Spandex
• Inner-layer: 100% Polyester sports mesh

Spring 2009 sees the launch of Haglöfs' Q series - a completely new line of sleeping bags especially for women. The Q series has a fit that is somewhat broader at the hip and narrower at the shoulder.

Brand new for 2009, Vango the leading camping and outdoor specialist have introduced a range of weekend tents, extending its already comprehensive offering. The new weekend tent range offers exceptional value and performance without sacrificing comfort or space.

Often imitated, Timberland's classic wheat-coloured boot is one of the most recognisable pieces of footwear you can buy. But the brand, which started out with an outdoors-focussed identity, has found itself mainly occupying the High Street in recent years. Paul is determined to restore its place in the outdoor market, as he explains to SGB.

ViewRanger joins the ranks of personal navigation tools hitting the outdoor scene, and it certainly appears to be every bit as good as the competition - with a few features that help it stand out from the crowd, not least the fact that it runs on a mobile phone. Craig Wareham, co-founder of Augmentra, creators of ViewRanger, explains to SGB what makes this software solution stand apart.

Early in the morning of March 7th in "biting winds" and temperatures down to minus 15 degrees C., motor mouth Radio One DJ Chris Moyles, actress Denise Van Outen, boy band singer Ronan Keating and other celebs topped out on the summit of Kilimanjaro. It was a great effort to raise funds for Comic Relief but it is hardly an original idea. Hundreds of Brits climb Kili every year to raise money for charity and thousands undertake similar trips and adventures. I bet that every reader of this article has sponsored someone to participate in a charity fund raising event whether it be to run, trek, cycle, climb, ride or jump (from an aircraft). Google charity trek and you get 287,000 hits. The first three listings I found were sponsored links (Oxfam, Christianaid, DoitforCharity) which is indicative of the competition to get people signed up. It is big business, but for whom?