Are there any organsiations that provide all inclusive sponsorship packages to allow you to participate in an overseas Ironman e.g. Florida, Australia etc.
Im referring to deals similar to those for Marathons e.g. New York Marathon where you commit to raising say £1500 and they pay you entry, flights and accomodation?
Any details / website links appreciated as this is something I may consider for 2005.
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as chris says, why would you expect people to subsidise your holiday???
Its a jolly for christ sakes. There should be a clear line drawn between charity money and costs of the event.
If you want a sponsor for an international event draft up a convincing proposal and go after corporate sponsorship from your employers or business contacts. Make it convincing enough and offer the company enough exposure in return and you stand a good chance of covering your costs.
...and keep any fundraising completely seperate to your corporate sponsorship.
Being a moralistic sort of person though I like the idea of the company sponsorship route, im sure with a bit of planning I could put together a propsal to get me a couple of thousand perhaps, though I guess the cost of Ironman Oz would amount to near on £2000.
will Boggins Widgets of Wolverhampton sponsor you to go and run a race in australia? maybe, but i'd be surprised
My MDS costs are more than that, including gear. I have two corporate sponsors covering the lot.
The only downer is that they will expect you to do well so it puts pressure on you.
MDS - not many peole do it, will amaze the couch potatoes, local press very interested, etc etc
ironman - ordinary, not newsworthy
maybe i'm wrong, dunno, but if i were doing MDS i'd look for sponsorship, but i haven't bothered even trying for ironman florida this year as it seems pointless
Ironically when I had my picture taken for the local rag the photographer arranged for the photo to be taken in a local builders yard where there was a lot of sand - pseudo desert, and a credit was given to the builders merchants after the article - so I think I should have tried to extort some sponsorship out of them.
The guys that had sponsorship at the MDS seemed to be either work in an industry where sponsorhip was common place or they found it in the most unlikely places.
Fair play to anyone who manages to raise the cash via corporate sponsorship - on paper it seems easy but in practice quite difficult
i could lay on a sun lounger by a pool all day, get p*ssed and cause trouble in the evenings
surely some shellsuit manufacturer would be interested? or Elizabeth Duke at Argos? or the makers of Sunny Delight
I guess im lucky in that I work for a company that sees sponsorship as a very good form of advertising - already sponsors of the European Athletics Championship and the World Cross Country championship not to mention some local club races. They where over the moon to be able to back one of their own employees in the MDS.
Once I got them on board getting a second sponsor to make up the remaining 40% of costs was pretty straightforward - I was actually able to be selective about it.
Im no where near elite and would probably be in the last 25% of any field (on current fitness) im thinking of the 2005 season already as this one is a bit of a dip my toe in and see. I'll never get anywhere near elite but that doesnt mean that with a imaginative promotion package I cant get my sponsors a high profile.
Thinking something like Boddingtons beer etc.
The company I work for sells sponsorship for Professional Sports events (principally Golf) and I understand how frustrating it can be to get seemingly no 'bites' from the majority of pitches, but when you actually make the sale, it definitely gives the effort impetus! I'm formulating some type of strategy for MDS 2005 - yet to register mind, but am adding names to the list constantly...
Jason X/Caspar K what were your overall costs roughly for MDS?
£130 sleeping bag
£100 rucksack
£60 clothing
£100 food
£50 other bits and peices (mandatory items etc)
about £2600 for me so far....£2500 of which is covered by corporate sponsorship.
If you mean petrol costs of getting to gatwick and back thats coming out of my own pocket. So thats another £50 odd.
You could also put in trainers if you wanted - over 14 odd months of training and racing in the build up to this thing I must have gone through over £500 worth of trainers - once again all out of my own pocket.
I think corporate sponsorship is the way to go and would like some idea’s on which companies to approach, what sort of marketing strategy to offer in order to squeeze money out of them.
What I can offer.
Media exposure in local press
Promote/present a real sporting identity or level of achievement that appeals to the masses rather than just the image of an elite athletes
Visual exposure,
Dunno, getting stcuk now which is where I need some help.
Good news is I would hope to be able to squeeze up to £1000 out of my own employer and from friends in influential poitions at other companies (maybe).