British Indoor Champion and 100-metre sprinter, James Dasaolu, has taken delivery of an all-new Mazda3 during a handover ceremony in his home town of Loughborough, Leicestershire. Staff at Sandicliffe Mazda located just a few miles from Dasaolu’s regular training camp, were delighted to present the 26-year-old athletics star with his brand new Mazda3 2.2-litre Hatchback 150ps Sport Nav Diesel finished in Blue Reflex Mica.
Speaking at the handover, Dasaolu said: “I’m really excited to be getting behind the wheel of my Mazda3. It’s a great looking car packed with technology and I can’t wait to take it for a spin. The Mazda brand’s philosophy of ‘Challenging Convention to Make Things Better’ supports demonstrations of determination and human endeavour – as a sportsman I can absolutely relate to that.”
Jeremy Thomson, Managing Director, Mazda UK, commented: “We’re really pleased to supply an all-new Mazda3 to such an inspiring young British athlete. This partnership perfectly reflects Mazda’s convention defying themes – in his field James is constantly striving to push his own abilities and to better his personal best performance, which makes him an ideal ambassador for our brand.”
Dasaolu is one of a select group of athletes capable of recording a sub 10-second 100-metre sprint time. His personal best of 9.91 seconds at the 2013 British Trials in Birmingham during July qualified him for the World Championships in Moscow. In Russia, Dasaolu got through the heats to the men’s 100-metre final and competed against Usain Bolt. The London-born athlete currently ranks as Britain’s second-fastest 100-metre sprinter of-all-time, and he has already made a spectacular start to 2014 by matching his 60-metre personal best time of 6.50 seconds to be crowned British Indoor Champion.
The all-new Mazda3 range of Hatchback (5-door) and Fastback (4-door) models went on sale at showrooms in the New Year. Offering a choice of 36 models priced from £16,695 (on-the-road), the new Mazda3 achieves up to 72.4mpg with emissions as low as 104g/km and has already attracted a stream of happy customers to Mazda’s 136-strong network of dealerships.
The Japanese marque, which dares to defy convention with its KODO-Soul of Motion design theme and innovative fuel-saving SKYACTIV technology, is bucking current automotive trends by favouring sophisticated engineering and comprehensive weight saving over the simple turbocharging of downsized (smaller) engines. The result for Mazda’s product line-up is improved economy and lower emissions without the need to sacrifice performance.