Join us as we continue to grow and shine a positive light on our community! We are seeking sponsorships from organizations such as yours to help sustain the growth of the Belleville Main Street Marathon and Half Marathon and to be able to give back to our community both monetarily and by showing off Belleville’s charm and the community spirit that runs so deep here.
The 8th annual Belleville Main Street Marathon and our third Half Marathon is scheduled for Saturday, September 28, 2024. Our full marathon (26.2 miles) continues to grow steadily, and the very popular half marathon (13.1 miles) almost doubled in size in its second year in 2023, with about 400 registrations. In 2024, we expect more than 700 runners to descend on Belleville to run these two races. Runners come from all over the United States, with many of them from the metro-east and St. Louis area. Added to our 200-plus volunteer base, this is an excellent opportunity for your organization to get your name out in the community and beyond and be part of a movement that supports a major, one-of-a-kind sporting event in the metro-east that promotes a healthier lifestyle and showcases our local community.
The Belleville Main Street Marathon and Half Marathon is in critical need of your support through sponsorships. Sponsorships, as opposed to registrations, pay the majority of costs to conduct such a large and highly-rated event and allow us to donate proceeds. Because of sponsorships, our 2023 event allowed us to donate $10,000 to the Belleville Parks and Recreation Department for enhancements to the city as well as $2,500 to a newly formed college scholarship fund earmarked for local high school runners!!! In addition, much of the cost of holding the race goes back to the city, which provides police support and manpower for course setup. We also strive to use local businesses for all our needed goods and services.
For the past 7 years, our Boston-qualifying full marathon has brought out tremendous community spirit over its 26.2 miles and has attracted athletes from our region and all over the United States (as well as one runner from Japan), which in turn helps support the local economy. Adding the 13.1-mile half marathon race has only increased these benefits to our region.
We respectfully ask that you please consider providing financial support or goods/services to keep this exciting event going and growing in 2024. Your help also helps us be able to better market the event, which will attract more runners and further boost the local economy. In turn, we will feature your sponsorship on participant and volunteer T-shirts, mile markers on race day, social media, and marketing materials (please see the following pages for sponsorship levels and benefits to your organization). Year after year, runners have let us know how much they like the Belleville Marathon and Half Marathon courses and are blown away by our volunteers, saying they provide some of the best course support they have ever received, which speaks so highly about our community!
The Belleville Main Street Marathon is a non-for-profit event organized by the Belleville Running Club and Toolen’s Running Start, with major logistical and operational assistance from the city of Belleville.
*Platinum sponsors will be accepted on a first-come basis according to when payment for sponsorship is received. Each year, current Platinum sponsors will be given the opportunity to maintain their sponsorship level.
†Example of donated goods and services include post-race refreshments, such as bananas, oranges, desserts, pretzels; goodies for volunteers, such as food, sunglasses, hats, lip balm.