Mont-Blanc Marathon Announces New Balance as Title Sponsor

Via LinkedIn (no official announcement has been posted on the events website):

The Mont-Blanc Marathon and New Balance join forces for the next 5 years.

New Balance’s commitment to running is deeply rooted in its heritage. Since 1906, the brand has been developing innovative, high-quality products designed to meet the diverse needs of runners.

The Mont-Blanc Marathon is one of the most prestigious trail running events in the world with its 8 emblematic races bringing together nearly 10,000 trail runners (children, young people, elites, amateurs). Forerunner of mountain races, with the 1st edition of the Cross du Mont-Blanc in 1979.

This didn’t take long. Less than a month after the announcement was made that Salomon was parting ways with the historic event in Chamonix the Mont-Blanc Marathon has already a new title sponsor secured. And it’s ‘New Balance’. Who had that brand on their bingo card? I mean, I guess New Balance has trail shoes? And I guess it makes sense that a brand that is NOT YET established in trail to take on a sponsorship to get their name out. Salomon clearly is a known quantity in the Chamonix valley and they don’t really need to brand exposure at the event. New Balance on the other hand with US$6.5 billion in revenue for 2023 according to Wikipedia has the size and cash to get their name established in the trail running space. And what better place to do it than in the ultimate place for trail running: Chamonix, and at one of the largest trail races in the world.

It’s also worth noting that Bruno Laroque is the Senior Marketing Director EMEA, New Balance and has previously worked for Salomon.