New Balance Athletics, Inc. entered a sponsorship with USRowing, which will include providing footwear to athletes as the “Official Training Shoe of the USRowing National Team.”

New Balance formed an organic relationship with USRowing through seeding New Balance training footwear to top rowers and USRowing athletes as the “Official Athletic Footwear and Official Athletic Apparel Sponsor of the Head Of The Charles® Regatta.” As a Boston-based brand, the sponsorship is intended to strengthen local efforts with existing support of The Head of The Charles Regatta, while supporting U.S. heritage via USRowing in their quest for gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The New Balance men’s and women’s Minimus 20v5 Trainer was identified by US National team rowers as the best-performing land rowing and training shoe in the sport and appropriately designated, the “Official Training Shoe of the USRowing National Team.” The exclusive style for the US National team rowers will feature a red, white and blue colorway, as well as the official USRowing logo on the external heel and within the heel of the footbed. Engineered to compliment the natural movement of the foot and body during a workout, the MX/WX20v5 Training shoe offers barefoot-inspired performance to a gym or circuit workout, while still providing the protection and durability athletes need when training for their sport. The style is the ideal training shoe for rowers for erging, which is at the core of the training program, as well as the static driven workouts inherent to the sport.

“The USRowing sponsorship is intended to embolden our brand efforts for our performance training business,” said Ray Hilvert, Vice President, New Balance Field of Play. “Our work and collaboration with world class partners, such as USRowing, is inherent to New Balance culture and our commitment to providing innovative and premium products and experiences that support today’s performance athletes.”

“Our US National team is proud to collaborate with New Balance, a brand which shares our values- high performance, integrity and achievement,” said Luke McGee, US Men's team coach. “The feedback from our athletes is that this shoe allows them to maximize their results on the ergometer and in the weight room to ensure maximum performance as we look forward to Rio 2016.”

Information regarding the public offering of the USRowing Mi