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NY Marathon Draws Record Number of Sponsors

The ING New York City Marathon has 36 corporate sponsors for the race Nov. 4, and six of them - Toyota, Garmin, Andalucia, Zicam and Hugo Boss - are new.

There are not only more sponsors of the race than ever before, but the sponsors are more involved than they have been in the past, writes MediaPost. According to Ann Hinegardner, vp/sales and marketing for the New York City Road Runners, the group which organizes the marathon, the race is popular with advertisers because of is media coverage - it is the only marathon that is televised nationally, on NBC - its demographic “sweet spot” (average yearly income is $90,000, with graduate school education) and its size (37,900 runners, with five million spectators).

Toyota is giving first-place male and female finishers a Toyota Prius and is touting its Engines of Change program during the race. Dunkin’ Donuts is giving away iced coffee at nine locations throughout the race, and is giving away 35,000 cups of coffee to racers at the start of the marathon.

UPS will have 82 trucks bringing runners’ gear from the start of the race to the finish, and Coors Light will hold 150 themed parties throughout the city and will distribute more than a million cans of “New York City Marathon Light Beer.”