New Balance / Athletics Ireland partnership deal

Thanks to James Cottle who attended this launch on behalf of the Running in Cork blog and put together this short piece below...

Tuesday night, at a well-attended ceremony held at the Market Bar in Dublin, saw the unveiling of the new strip for Ireland’s international athletes to be provided by New Balance. Following signature late last year of a 3 year contract with the AAI, New Balance’s sponsorship, which replaces that of ASICS, will cover performance, warm-up apparel and footwear for the Irish track and field team for use in competition.

From left to right, Irish athletes Jessie Barr, Colin Costello, Ciara Mageean, Fionnuala Britton, Thomas Barr and Ava Hutchinson in attendance at the New Balance & Athletics Ireland Partnership launch event in Dublin...Tues 29th Jan 2013

Although, New Balance is less well-known today in Ireland perhaps than ASICS, it has a long tradition of involvement in the sport of athletics and indeed of support for Irish athletes in particular. We were reminded that the company sponsored Olympic marathon silver medallist John Treacy for over 11 years and also supported Marcus O’Sullivan, World indoor champion at 1500m. New Balance was founded in Boston in 1906 as a provider of arch supports, gradually evolving into a manufacturer of sports shoes. However, it was not until 1972 when entrepreneur Jim Davis acquired the company on Patriots Day, the day of the running of the Boston marathon, that the company began to transform itself into a manufacturer of high performance running shoes, attracting a significant following over the years, partly because it is one of few manufacturers to provide running shoes in a variety of widths.

Tom Carleo, of New Balance, said at the event that the partnership with Athletics Ireland is an extremely exciting opportunity for the company to reinforce its ambition to become the number one running and athletics brand in the World and to get back to the grass roots of the sport. John Foley, CEO of the AAI, also added how membership of athletics clubs and running in general was now booming in Ireland and that the support of New balance would be invaluable for continuing to raise the profile of the sport here, along with the recent initiative with the indoor track in Athlone and the success of Ireland’s athletes in international cross country.