GU Energy Labs has withdrawn from the Outdoor Retailer tradeshow in Salt Lake City, UT.
“GU will return to Outdoor Retailer when Utah officials demonstrate a more progressive and protective approach towards public lands, including Bears Ears National Monument, or Outdoor Retailer relocates to a conservation-minded state,” stated a company representative. “Furthermore, GU will not attend any tradeshow, Interbike included, that moves to Utah while its public policy remains inimical to GU core values.”
The nutrition brand has attended both Outdoor Retailer and Interbike, the largest annual industry bike show for the last 20 years. While GU plans to stay engaged with its peers in the outdoor industry community, it intends to send a message to Utah’s political leadership that they should “halt their efforts to undermine our public lands system, and the Bears Ears National Monument.”
“GU Energy Labs was created by me, my father, and my sister to help athletes push through boundaries into new levels of athletic performance. We pioneered endurance nutrition in races like the iconic Wasatch 100 endurance run, held in Utah each year on public lands,” said Brian Vaughan, CEO & founder of GU Energy Labs.
“The majestic sandstone landscape of southeastern Utah is unique and awe inspiring. Visiting this country is a rite of passage for adventurers in the American West. There is something shape-shifting, spirit free-ing and ultimately so life-affirming about letting the mind and body wander through the mesas, buttes and sagebrush valleys of Bears Ears. If we can’t stand up for the incomparable beauty and precious wilderness of Indian Creek, we are letting down our customers, our peers and ourselves,” Vaughan continued.
In lieu of investment in Outdoor Retailer, GU donated $25,000 to a new program of the Conservation Alliance – the Public Lands Defense Fund. Additionally, GU will direct new focus to building awareness around Bears Ears National Monument and other threatened public lands.
Photo courtesy GU Energy Labs
