Marathon News - Weather Channel to Sponsor Atlanta Marathon

Mar-18-2008

Weather Channel to Sponsor Atlanta Marathon
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

The Atlanta Track Club announced today that the popular cable television channel, The Weather Channel (TWC), will now be the title sponsor of the Atlanta Marathon & Half-Marathon held on Thanksgiving Day. This year's race is set for Thursday, November 27 in Atlanta, will be the 47th running of the event.

TWC will produce and air segments profiling five runners training for the race in different geographic areas (and climates) throughout the USA. The cable channel will also use it's website, weather.com to display additional information about the race, including training profiles, video vignettes, blogs from the featured runners, running tips, running calculators, and local route maps. This is the first sponsorship for TWC in the running industry.

"This partnership will breed new opportunities for the marathon and our organization," said Atlanta Track Club executive director, Tracey Russell, through a news release. "The national exposure and credibility TWC brings to the table are exactly what we were looking for in a sponsor."

The Atlanta Marathon & Half-Marathon is the oldest marathon in the Southeastern United States, and among the ten oldest in the country. About 8500 total runners participated last year.