Ford is supporting disabled Service skiers for the fourth consecutive year, by providing a new Transit minibus, that enables them to compete in international winter sports events.
Combined Services Disabled Ski Team (CSDST) athletes will use the Ford Transit nine-seat Tourneo minibus to transport them and their equipment around the Alps this winter.
The CSDST is a registered charity which provides ski race coaching to serving members of the Armed Forces, and to veterans, who have a permanent disability. Most participants were injured on active service, and several are double amputees.
Last season the team covered nearly 30,000 miles in their Tourneo people mover, winning gold and bronze medals in international events. This season the team will train in Austria ahead of Army competitions in France, in January, and the World Championships in Spain, in February. Several CSDST members have already been selected for the British Disabled Ski Team and aim to represent their country in the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia.
Colonel Nick Wills OBE, CSDST chairman, said: “Ford’s provision of another Transit Tourneo this year is vital to our success as a ski team and as a charity. The vehicle enables us to move disabled skiers and their equipment all over Europe for training and competitions, and without it we would struggle to provide these opportunities for disabled service men and women.”
Ford of Britain product manager for Transit, David Petts, added: “Ford is very pleased to again assist the Combined Services Disabled Ski Team. The huge amount of effort from the team’s trainers, and by team members themselves, is a great inspiration.”
