ING Out As Hartford Marathon Sponsor After This Year [The Hartford Courant]

Oct. 01--The ING Hartford Marathon will be looking for a new sponsor after this year.

ING, which has been the race's title sponsor for six years and has offices in Windsor, has dropped its sponsorship of marathons in Hartford, New York City and Miami.

"I've been talking to some other companies," Hartford Marathon race director Beth Shluger said Monday. "I'm optimistic about the future. I have four companies that are very interested."

This year's Hartford Marathon is Oct. 12. More than 12,000 runners are expected to run in the marathon, half-marathon, 5K, marathon relay and kids races.

"I'm thankful that they were there with me for six years," Shluger said. "ING has been getting on calls with me to other companies. They're very supportive."

When ING picked up the sponsorship of the Hartford Marathon in 2007, the company also was sponsoring marathons in Atlanta, Miami, Brussels, Ottawa and Taipei, as well as New York City, and the Bay to Breakers 12K in San Francisco.

In April, ING, a financial services and insurance company based in Amsterdam, announced that it was rebranding its U.S. operations and changing the name.

Shluger said the company asked her not to reveal the amount of the sponsorship, but said it was "definitely six figures." She said she hopes to have a new sponsor for the race, which will celebrate its 20th running this year, in the next few months.

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