Virgin to sponsor London Marathon
Virgin Group has picked up the baton as sponsor of the London Marathon from Flora in a £17 million deal.
Sir Richard Branson’s group will take over in 2010 and has signed a five year contract. Unilever-owned Flora revealed in December that it was to end its 14-year-old association with the London Marathon after the 2009 event.
Virgin Money, working with the group’s not-for-profit entrepreneurial foundation Virgin Unite, will look at a programme of initiatives to help raise money and develop a sense of community around the event. A new website will launch for the Marathon on 26 April 2009.
Virgin also owns the gym chain Virgin Active and has 72 sites in the UK.
Marathon race director and former runner David Bedford said: “I cannot think of and more appropriate sponsor for the 20120 London marathon than Virgin.”
The event has raised more than £46 million annually for charity in recent years.
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