SPORTS

Vermont City Marathon has new sponsor

Alex Abrami
Free Press Staff Writer

A new chapter began Monday morning for the Vermont City Marathon. People's United Bank assumed title sponsorship for the state's largest single-day sporting event.

RunVermont, a nonprofit group which organizes the marathon, and bank officials announced the change in sponsorship during a large gathering at Burlington City Hall Park.

The marathon will now be known as the People's United Bank Vermont City Marathon — after two decades with KeyBank as the chief sponsor.

"There is a lot of excitement at the bank right now, being involved with this and playing such a major role," said Jack Barnes, People's president and chief executive officer. "We know that our nearly 1,000 employees in Vermont and over 5,000 employees across the Northeast will be very excited and involved with the race. We are looking forward to working with RunVermont."

KeyBank had served as the Vermont City Marathon sponsorship since buying Bank of Vermont, the original sponsor, from Bank of Boston in 1994.

When KeyBank's last contract with the marathon ended, People's United was one of several to present bids, said Peter Delaney, RunVermont's executive director. KeyBank also submitted a bid, but People's pitch won out.

Don Baker,KeyBank market president for Vermont, was unavailable for comment but did provide a prepared statement:

"KeyBank's relationship with RunVermont has been a wonderful investment in building a strong community here in Vermont," Baker said in an email. "We are extremely proud of what we have accomplished together and we wish RunVermont the very best going forward."

Delaney credited KeyBank with building the marathon's base.

"KeyBank was a tremendous partner for a long time and they helped us build the event to what it is now. When we talked about renewals, we had other parties express some interest," Delaney said. "The board and I sat down and looked at all the different proposals and People's made a proposal that was too good to pass up."

While the dollar amount for the title sponsorship is confidential, Delaney did say the bids were within "a few thousand dollars" of each other.

"The financial is always a piece of it, but it wasn't the driver," Delaney said. "(People's) will help us extend our marketing platform fairly significantly within the core geographical footprint of the event.

"It will go a long way until toward securing the next 5-10 years of the marathon."

The 2014 VCM attracted 3,100 marathoners, 5,100 relay runners and more than 1,700 volunteers. The boost to the local economy is $3.5 million, RunVermont said.

The 27th running of the Vermont City Marathon is scheduled for May 24. Marathon registration opens Oct. 1.

People's United operates throughout New England and New York. Barnes, a University of Vermont alum, and other senior leaders, including Michael Seaver, the Vermont president of People's, reside in the Green Mountain State, according to RunVermont.

"It's a big commitment for our company, but we think it's the right commitment for our company," Seaver said.

Contact Alex Abrami at 660-1848 or aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/aabrami5