Christchurch Marathon About to Change

The Christchurch Marathon is about to embark on a new era that organisers hope will launch the event to even greater heights.

For the past 10 years Christchurch’s SBS Marathon has been known as the South Island’s premier running event. But from 2012 it will have a new title sponsorship that promises to help the event reach loftier goals.

The new sponsorship, due to be announced in the next few weeks, will see the event rebranded from what has been known as the “SBS Marathon Christchurch”.

“SBS have been a great sponsor,” says Christchurch Marathon race director Chris Cox. “They signed on for 2002 for a single year, and 10 years later they were still with us.”

“During those 10 years the Christchurch Marathon more than doubled in size and SBS were a big part of that. Prior to 2002 we were essentially a popular South Island event. SBS helped the event reach a wider audience.”

In coming weeks, however, the Christchurch Marathon will be announcing a new principal sponsor with even broader promotional reach and international potential that organisers say will see the event reach even greater heights.

Inspired by the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games marathon, the City of Christchurch International Marathon was established as a charitable trust in 1981 and has held various sponsors and titles in its 31 years.

But as the SBS Marathon Christchurch the annual Queen’s Birthday Weekend highlight became New Zealand’s second biggest marathon event, growing from 2181 participants in 2002 to 5861 in 2010.

“SBS Bank was the longest-running and most loyal sponsor the event has ever enjoyed,” says Cox. “10 years is an incredibly long sponsorship and we know SBS Bank will be supporting communities like ours for many decades to come.”

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