Highland Spring, "the UK's leading natural mineral water", has been confirmed as the title Sponsor for the 2006 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup at Fort William.

Since 2003 Highland Spring has supplied water to competitors and officials (and very welcome it's been too), and the title sponsorship deal represents it stepping up its involvement. It's a good event to be involved with - the World Cup gets plenty of media exposure, and not just in the specialist bike media. And that's in addition to the 18,000 or so spectators.

Suzanne Casey, consumer marketing manager at Highland Spring, said: "The Mountain Bike World Cup is a fantastic event for Highland Spring to be associated with. Mountain biking is a great sport the whole family can enjoy and not only contributes to overall health and wellbeing but also ensures participants get active and enjoy the great outdoors. Keeping hydrated is important when involved in active sports and we hope our sponsorship will encourage all competitors to drink water throughout the event."

Mike Jardine, from organisers Rare Management commented: "It is fantastic for the World Cup to be associated with such a well known, international Scottish brand, especially as it is such an ideal product for the exhausting mountain bike discipline. Putting on a World Class event in such a special location needs the support of good commercial and public funding partners so we are delighted to welcome Highland Spring on board."

So that's the Highland Spring Fort William World Cup to you - Nevis Range, 27-28 May 2006. See you there...