Irish Life has this morning announced its title sponsorship of the Dublin Marathon, launching an exciting three-year partnership with Ireland’s most prestigious and largest annual marathon event.
From 2022 to 2025, Irish Life will be the title sponsor of the main event, as well as the Race Series.
Up to 45,000 runners of all abilities from elite through to joggers, sign-up to take part each year in the races.
Now in its 43rd year, the annual Dublin Marathon welcomes numbers of up to 25,000 runners along a course through Ireland’s capital city. The race has not taken place other than in virtual fashion in each of the last two years, and with previous partner KBC exiting the Irish market a new partner was always going to be needed.
Backing
Irish Life will match previous partners in also backing the Dublin Race Series which consists of four races during the summer months building up in distance to a half marathon to prepare runners for the marathon in late October.
The deal was brokered by Darragh Persse and the Brand Fans.
In addition to the title sponsorship of the Dublin Marathon, Irish Life has been involved with various initiatives aimed at improving the health and wellness of people in Ireland.
Irish Life has recently announced an extension to its partnership with the Irish Life GAA Healthy Clubs programme, deepening a long-standing relationship that brings health awareness, support, and opportunities to communities around Ireland.
Irish Life also provides health supports and fitness challenges to the public through its health and fitness app MyLife, which is used by 140,000 people across Ireland.
The MyLife app encourages users to build health goals and get involved in challenges while creating personal health scores based on their body, mind, and lifestyle.
Irish Life is also the primary commercial partner of Athletics Ireland.
Fundraising
The Dublin Marathon raises an estimated €9 million annually for various charity partners, due to fundraising efforts by the race entrants and partners.
It also contributes a further €26.5 million to the City of Dublin by attracting thousands of people to the capital and boosting spending in a number of sectors.
As a leading sponsor of health and wellbeing initiatives in communities across Ireland, this new sponsorship of the Dublin Marathon is a major stride for Irish Life and strongly reinforces its goal to help people to live healthier lives and build better futures.
Irish Life will be in a unique position to support the growth of the Irish Life Dublin Marathon and Race Series over the next three years, working together with race organisers to increase entrant numbers, enhance community fundraising efforts, and generate spectator engagement.
Looking Forward
“We are absolutely thrilled to be the new title sponsor for the Irish Life Dublin Marathon and are truly looking forward to working with the race organisers to build on the incredible success the marathon has seen to date,” said Declan Bolger, CEO of Irish Life.
“This will be a phenomenal partnership that complements our ambition to help make it easier for people to take care of their health and financial well-being, so they can enjoy a better life today and into the future.”
“We are extremely proud to be growing our connection to the beating heart of the running community and to be stepping out alongside many of our customers as they fulfil their goal of running the Irish Life Dublin Marathon.”
“This sponsorship will take us into a new era, and we would like to thank Irish Life for committing their support for three years to the Dublin Marathon and Race Series,” said Race Director Jim Aughney.
“Through this partnership, we can reach new targets through a shared vision of helping people to live more physically active and healthy lives. We have ambitious plans and I look forward to working with Irish Life to continue to provide the best and most welcoming racing experience in Ireland for the running community, to inspire, encourage and support them to be active and to set new goals and achieve them.”
Sport for Business Perspective
As a brand Irish Life has seriously strong credentials in the health and wellbeing space. Utilising its already strong database of health-focused individuals will ensure the Marathon fills to whatever the maximum number of participants is allowed and provides a real virtuous circle between the property, the brand and the consumer.
