ASICS becomes new main sponsor of NN Marathon Rotterdam
9/27/2023Today, ASICS announces that they will proudly become one of the main sponsors of the well known NN Marathon Rotterdam, starting in 2024. The sports brand has made a three-year commitment with Golazo, the company behind the sporting event.
The NN Marathon Rotterdam is an international race that attracts not only top athletes from all over the world, but also recreational runners from the Netherlands and surrounding countries.
Gary Raucher, EVP, ASICS EMEA says:"At ASICS, we’re united by our passion for running, regardless of experience or ability. We believe in the power of running to uplift individuals and communities. Our aim is to enable more people to experience the physical and mental benefits that running brings, which is why we are incredibly proud and excited to partner with NN Marathon Rotterdam. Together, we hope to inspire more people to move, not just for their body, but also for their mind.”
Matching values
The mission and philosophy of both ASICS and Golazo are well aligned.
ASICS believes in the holistic power of exercise and its mental benefits. The acronym stands for the Latin phrase ‘Anima Sana in Corpore Sano’, meaning a Sound Mind in a Sound Body. Founded more than 70 years ago by Kihachiro Onitsuka, the brand is committed to creating products that feel best for both body and mind. The combination of rigorous user testing, biomechanical science, sustainability, and decades of continuous improvement has enabled the development of new and innovative running and athletic shoes, apparel, accessories and technologies.
"At Golazo, our goal is to make people around the world healthier and happier by organizing sporting events and challenges," says Mario Kadiks, CEO ad interim of Golazo in the Netherlands. "In ASICS we envision a very suitable partner with whom we share the mission to get more people moving. This makes the partnership a natural fit. We are therefore very pleased to be able to connect a leading sports brand to our main event in the coming years."
Golazo organizes popular and leading events such as the NN Marathon Rotterdam, NN CPC Loop The Hague, ASML Marathon Eindhoven, Menzis 4 Mile of Groningen, CZ Tilburg Ten Miles, and the Lindahl's Singelloop Utrecht. Throughout the year, Golazo organizes about 50 events in the Netherlands, with over 250,000 participants and hundreds of thousands of visitors.
NN Marathon Rotterdam facts & figures
Over 50,000 runners took part in the NN Marathon Rotterdam over the entire weekend in 2023, including 17,000 in the marathon itself. The event also attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
The track in Rotterdam is known as the fastest in the Netherlands and also one of the fastest in the world. In recent decades, three world records have been run (in 1985, 1988 and 1998) and a European record (in 2021 by Belgian Bashir Abdi). The Dutch record is held by Abdi Nageeye, who in 2022 became the first Dutchman ever to win this marathon in a time of 02:04:56. That same year in Rotterdam, Nienke Brinkman set a new Dutch record among women in a time of 02:22:51.
