N.Y. Road Runners Unveils New Branding Ahead Of '11 Marathon

N.Y. Road Runners CEO Mary Wittenberg met with a small group of press at the 21 Club in Manhattan to discuss Sunday’s ING N.Y. Marathon as well as the group’s new branding and logo. The logo, which was introduced today, is the fifth logo in the club’s 52-year history and replaces one that was designed in-house in '02. For the first time, the NYRR worked with an outside agency – the Manhattan-based Doublespace – in developing the logo as well as the accompanying manifesto, which is titled “Run for Life.” The 39-line manifesto, which lists reasons for running, was written by Doublespace employee Michelle Sassa. “We have evolved into the world’s premier running community organization, and I don’t think you necessarily got that if you went to our website and saw our logo,” Wittenberg said.

The NYRR went to tender in the spring of '10 and selected Doublespace in August from a group of nine. The '11 marathon marks the first event that the club will be working alongside the agency, and the new logo will appear at the starting and finishing lines, as well as on the participation medal. Doublespace is currently building a new website for NYRR that will debut in early '12. NYRR is expecting 46,000-47,000 runners on Sunday, the biggest turnout in the race’s 41-year history.