David Noyes has been named by Odyssey Adventure Racing as their new Director of Brand Development. “We are thrilled to have David join our team,” says Odyssey president Ronny Angell. “He brings 20 years of experience in marketing, advertising, and international travel to our brand development program.”
Founded in 1997 by Adventure Racing pioneer and multi-sport legend Don Mann, Odyssey Adventure Racing is one of North America's leading multi-sport race producers. In 2005, Odyssey was acquired by their current owners, Ronny Angell and Hollie Flynn who have continued to expand their racing academies and leadership training program while maintaining their ubiquitous reputation as producing the “toughest” races in the North American adventure racing game.
“I first worked with Odyssey back in 2002 and 2003 in my capacity as the editor of Experience Outdoors Magazine, ” comments Noyes. “Odyssey is a well-respected race producer with a well-established brand image. My job will be to expand their presence into the world of Adventure Travel.”
Noyes explains, “Our initial product concept is what we are calling Travel + Train. I am presently exploring 9-10 day adventure holidays with ground services and tour operators in Thailand, Australia, Patagonia, and Costa Rica. We are creating a custom itinerary with several days of training opportunities, some adventure tourism experiences like river rafting, kayaking, mountain biking, and jungle trekking, with a competitive race day or a sprint challenge to conclude the trip. The idea is to create an active holiday package that is attractive to our core audience and has plenty of things for a non-competitive spouse to do (like spa treatments, shopping, sight seeing, visits to local schools, volunteer work, and of course hanging out on some beautiful beaches).”
“We are looking to develop our own products as well as partner, where possible, to co-brand travel products with existing tour operators. Odyssey has the adventure credibility and a built-in marketing platform with our race events, database, website, and current promotional endeavors that will be channeled towards marketing our travel product. The Travel + Train concept is our way to enter the competitive adventure travel industry, but it is our vision to eventually offer a full product line of international and domestic travel holidays that range from difficult to intense; targeted to both endurance athletes and fit professionals in search of an authentic adventure travel experience that embraces a bit of pain and personal challenge,” adds Noyes.
