New Balance Celebrates the 50th Running of the TCS New York City Marathon

New Balance celebrates the historic 50^th running of the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon with its “It’s that New York Energy” campaign. Featuring real runners and New York City’s most famous running routes, this campaign brings to life the energy that has continued to grow around the marathon since its first running in 1970. In celebration of the 50^th running of the marathon there will be special events and activations in the week before the race, out-of-home advertising, digital marketing and on-course cheer parties in addition to limited edition 50^th branded New York City marathon apparel and footwear capsules.

“What an incredible accomplishment to not only celebrate 50 years of this world-famous race, but to have grown from four loops of Central Park and only 127 runners, to tens of thousands of runners with a route through all five boroughs,” says Tom Carleo, VP of Running at New Balance. “We aim to sustain the excitement of the 50^th running through special edition apparel and footwear capsules and are thrilled to welcome runners back to the marathon in November.”

New Balance launched footwear and apparel collections celebrating the 50^th running of the TCS New York City Marathon earlier this year. The capsules were inspired by Central Park as the original route of the marathon and include accents of black and gold to highlight this year’s special theme. “Central Park was truly the inspiration for a large part of the apparel collection,” says Jeff Garabedian, Apparel Product General Manager. “Central Park plays such an important role in the history of this race, and we wanted to make sure that it got a chance to shine in the collection. We also wanted to make sure to highlight the 50^th running of the marathon, which is represented in the black and gold apparel offerings.” The apparel capsule includes classic items like the Official Marathon Windcheater Jacket with a suggested retail price of $135. Another key piece is the TCS New York City Marathon PMV Shutter Speed Jacket retailing at $235 which features an allover iridescent, pliable woven fabric. Other items include a range of tops and bottoms in both Impact Run and Q Speed featuring the “50th running” emblem with suggested retail prices of $55 and $50 respectively. Footwear includes limited edition colorways of the Fresh Foam 1080v10 retailing at $175 and the FuelCell Prism for $134.99. The New Balance TCS New York City Marathon edition of the FuelCell RC Elite v2 is also featured in the collection, and has a suggested retail price of $250.

To keep spirits at an all-time high during race week, New Balance is sponsoring a live episode taping of Ali Feller’s, Ali on the Run podcast. Ali will interview Team NB Athletes Emma Coburn and Dani Jones, and New Balance Ambassador, Selena Samuela, on how they’re all connected, not by their workouts or approaches to fitness, but by how they use running as a tool for their mental health. The live taping will take place in New York City where attendees will be able to listen to panelists and ask them questions. The podcast will air in the weeks after the marathon.

To immerse both runners and their families into that New York City racing energy, New Balance will build out an entire activation at Hudson Yards where runners and non-runners alike will be able to write messages of encouragement on a large installation at the center of the event. Team NB athletes will attend to meet runners and their families and friends as they write their notes of excitement, motivation and tips to each other. This wall of inspiration will also double as a photo opportunity for visitors to pose with an engaging backdrop and post to their socials, as well as a chance to take pictures with Team NB athletes.

Additionally, New Balance will host an on-course, mile takeover at the infamous Mile 20 mark. Just as runners prepare to cross into the fifth and final borough, fans will be able to wave and clap New Balance branded pom poms, noisemakers and cowbells to give marathoners the energy to make it those last 6.2 miles.

“New Balance is an incredible and integral partner to the TCS New York City Marathon, and we are thrilled to work in tandem with them this year to bring the New York energy to life during the 50th running of this historic race,” said Christine Burke, NYRR’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Runner Products. “Seeing so many of our marathon runners sporting the New Balance footwear and apparel collection around the city, and the activations New Balance is putting on throughout race week will certainly drive excitement leading up to the big day.”

New Balance will continue to showcase the unique energy of the city through out-of-home investments of the “It’s that New York Energy” campaign. The official campaign spot will go live on Times Square digital billboards, taxi TV as well as additional cable and national broadcast spots through early November. Other high trafficked locations in the city will feature New Balance and marathon branded billboards.

The official New Balance TCS New York City Marathon Collection launched in July and is available to runners at the NYRR RUNCENTER Featuring the New Balance Run Hub, New Balance NY store locations and www.newbalance.com. Runners can also visit the TCS New York City Marathon Expo from November 4^th to 6^th to shop the collection.

About New Balance

New Balance Athletics, headquartered in Boston, MA has the following mission: Demonstrating responsible leadership, we build global brands that athletes are proud to wear, associates are proud to create and communities are proud to host. Manufactured in the U.S. for more than 75 years and representing a limited portion of our U.S. sales, New Balance MADE U.S. is a premium collection that contains a domestic value of 70% or greater. New Balance owns and operates four factories in New England and one in Flimby, U.K. New Balance employs more than 7,000 associates around the globe and in 2020 reported worldwide sales of $3.3 billion. To learn more about New Balance, please visit www.newbalance.com and for the latest press information please visit http://newbalance.newsmarket.com

About New York Road Runners (NYRR)

NYRR’s mission is to help and inspire people through running. Since 1958, New York Road Runners has grown from a local running club to the world’s premier community running organization. NYRR’s commitment to New York City’s five boroughs features races, virtual races, community events, free youth running initiatives and school programs, the NYRR RUNCENTER featuring the New Balance Run Hub, and training resources that provide hundreds of thousands of people each year with the motivation, know-how, and opportunity to Run for Life. NYRR’s premier event, and the largest marathon in the world, is the TCS New York City Marathon. Held annually on the first Sunday in November, the race features a wide population of runners, from the world’s top professional athletes to a vast range of competitive, recreational, and charity runners. To learn more, visit www.nyrr.org.