Team Huntington Reaches New Heights

On Wednesday, July 25, fans at Huntington Park, the home ballpark of the Columbus Clippers, experienced the first ever on-field “crowd crash.” After the first inning of the Clippers vs. Toledo Mud Hens game, Team Huntington surprised the crowed by crashing the field and converging behind second base. The Team Huntington Peloton came together to form an arrow – Pelotonia’s brand logo – to the words of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” a song chosen for its powerful words to inspire Pelotonia participants to “beat” cancer.  Click here to see a video of the “crowd crash:” http://youtu.be/z1gJlkc-59A

Besides the obvious reason of having a bit of fun while generating awareness and

Team Huntington forming an arrow during the "crowd crash."

excitement for Pelotonia, Team Huntington used the “crowd crash” to reveal their Pelotonia 12 jersey. Huntington partnered this year with the Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) to create the jersey design. CCAD used the jersey design as a class project for advertising, graphic design and fashion design majors.

CCAD students Dahui (Danny) Li and Nina Rehner’s designs were chosen from 22 entries. Together, they combined their ideas to create the Team Huntington jersey.

“The new jersey reminds people why they are riding,” Rehner said. “It’s a great design that adds memory to the event, and makes the riders feel proud to be part of Pelotonia.”

The back of the jersey answers the question: “who are you riding for?” with identifiers like “father,” “wife” and “friend,” and is meant to inspire those riding Team Huntington. Riders then circle who they ride for on the back of the jersey.

Team Huntington is not only excited about their new jersey – last week; their Peloton exceeded 1,000 Riders for the first time since their journey with Pelotonia began. Huntington has participated in Pelotonia since its inaugural ride and has been a major funding partner since Pelotonia 10.

“We’re proud to be involved with Pelotonia and are proud of the way our colleagues have rallied together for fundraising events and training rides in preparation for Pelotonia 12,” Mary Navarro, director of retail and business banking at Huntington, said.

And rallied together they have. Team Huntington has more than 19 states represented in Pelotonia 12. They have stretched far beyond their six-state Midwest footprint of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania to states such as Utah, Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia.

“Team Huntington is more than just the riders and virtual riders –it’s the volunteers, our friends, family and community partners who help make our team strong. We’re looking forward to bringing together our entire Team Huntington group for the ride this weekend,” Mary said.

And we are equally excited! Let the countdown begin…3 days!

Written By: Melissa Thompson