International Ironman Sponsorship?

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.

Comments

  • Never seen any of these although to be honest I personally would have a bit of a problem with doing it as you're asking people to subsidise your holiday in effect..
  • the marathons do it because many more people apply than there are spaces, so they have the arrangements where charities can buy tickets

    as chris says, why would you expect people to subsidise your holiday???
  • I definately think those deals where you raise X amount of money and the charity pay flights and accomadation and things are morally dubious.

    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.
  • Nver done one but yes I can understand there is a morality issue there though as far as im concerned if those wishing to sponsor you are aware of the arrangements and happy to still give then that sort of justifies it. I would also presume its the gif-taid tax break part of the money that pays the expenses.

    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.

  • plenty of sponsorship offers/opportunites come through e-mail, but they are looking for elites or top agegroupers who will commit to doing 3 ironmans a year or whatever, usually

    will Boggins Widgets of Wolverhampton sponsor you to go and run a race in australia? maybe, but i'd be surprised
  • £2000 to a big company is pence. Advertising costs loads, so if they can get a few big articles in local papers for that amount of money with you displaying their logo in clear view and maybe you in an interview on local news tv they are already getting a decent return on investment. It also makes the companies look like they are putting something back into the community.

    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.

  • yeah, just i would have thought there's a big difference in news worthiness between MDS and an ironman

    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
  • I didnt manage to get any corporate sponsorship when I did the MDS - it seemed to be too way out for smaller companies - whoch couldnt see an advertising return, or the larger companies had used up thier annual budget already (that old chestnut)


    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
  • no, i'm not planning to quit my day job quite just yet
  • do you think i could get sponsored to go to benidorm though???

    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
  • The other thing about corporate sponsorship is a hell of a lot of it is not what you know but who you know.


    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.
  • Jason, I agree exactly, I dont even think is how good you are but who you know. I have a mate that wrote me a £200 company cheque for London Marathon sponsorship. Im sure I could persuade him and other friends in influential positions to part with a few pounds, also I work for a large multinational that is pretty geared up to sponsoring employees so as I said with a bit of planning a few thousand should be fairly easy.

    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.
  • I also think there would be companies out there that would like to attach their brand to a 'real person' - im not saying elite arnt real but I mean in a sense of someone people can more identify with rather than perhaps high profile and naturally gifted athletes.

    Thinking something like Boddingtons beer etc.
  • Carl, Jason, Caspar et al: I agree that you have to cast a really wide net when it comes to raising Sponsorship and drumming up support for a pursuit such as this (ie ultra/adventure) which can be seen by some as 'selfish' pursuit (i've got that reaction a few times, not being elite!)

    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?
  • about £2100 for the entry.

    £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 planes to and thro - thats in the entry cost.

    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.
  • Having started to think seriously about the financing of an overseas Ironman outing to USA next year and guessing it’ll cost between £1500 & £2500, im going to consider ways to minimise my personal expenditure, especially as I was hoping to buy a nice car next year.

    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).
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