Global healthcare company Abbott has extended sponsorship deal with London Marathon for another three years, from 2022 until 2024. The title sponsor of the Abbott World Marathon Majors series, which includes the London Marathon, has been an official sponsor of the London Marathon since 2015.
Abbott provides Covid-19 testing technology. They played a pivotal role in helping LME deliver the postponed 2020 race last October. Abbott will continue to work with LME to support the safe delivery of this year’s event, which takes place on October 3. The organizers expect to see 50,000 people take part on the traditional route and 50,000 virtually.
Hugh Brasher, event director, LME, said, “Our partnership has come into its own in the past year and Abbott’s diagnostics expertise and support in Covid-19 testing was key to the successful delivery of the elite races at the 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon.”
As title partner of the World Marathon Majors, Abbot is also present at five other marathons: the Tokyo Marathon, the B.A.A. Boston Marathon, the BMW Berlin-Marathon, the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, and the TCS New York City Marathon.
The 2021 London Marathon will also host the inaugural AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championship, the first-ever global ranking system. Elite runners and wheelchair racers compete and score points in these races – and any Olympic or IAAF World Championship marathons that take place in a series timeframe – with each series starting and finishing in the same city. Series XI draws to a close in London on April 22, 2018.
Since the partnership began, AbbottWMM has launched new programs and innovations, connecting more people to the sport and sharing best practices across races. An elite wheelchair series was brought in 2016, creating a global platform for the world’s best wheelchair racers to compete. A new charity initiative was also launched, at the start of Series XI with US$10,000 awarded to causes nominated on behalf of each race winner across both the open and wheelchair divisions, bringing the Series total donations to $280,000.
It will be the last London Marathon to be title sponsored by Virgin Money. From 2022, Indian IT services and business solutions company Tata Consultancy Services will take over as title sponsor for six years to 2027.