USA Today Sports Announces Mazda as Founding Partner of Active Alliance Running Series

MAZDA becomes "Official Presenting Sponsor" of the country's finest marathon series

In a brilliant example of how media and events should and could work together, USA Today Sports Alliance has done something inventitive and fun! Bringing together many of the well established and healthy core regional marathons, the Sports Alliance is providing their marketing expertise and and ability to reach out in local markets to help build a marathon series. The USA Today Sports Media group has the firepower no other group within the sport of running has been able to combine as of yet. This group could really shake things up in the sport of running.

By: Larry Eder, RunBlogRun
McLean, Va., (May 10, 2016) - USA TODAY SPORTS and Mazda North American Operations (Mazda) today announced an exciting new partnership around the USA TODAY Sports Active Alliance - a network of the country's finest independent marathons.

Through the partnership, Mazda has become the Presenting Sponsor of the USA TODAY Sports Active Alliance. The Alliance is a first-of-its-kind platform designed to promote the endurance running market and brings together many of the nation's finest independent marathons and half marathons under one roof. The Active Alliance also allows races to maintain their independence and unique regionalism while linking each other major city's marathons, offering scale, reach and unprecedented promotion via the USA TODAY NETWORK.

"Mazda is an emotion-invoking company that attracts customers who are very engaged in the things they do, said Russell Wager, vice president of marketing, Mazda North American Operations. "Our customers tend to lead an active lifestyle and we want to be there to support them in their endeavors, but do it in an organic way. Running is one of those passions and we are proud to be part of the USA TODAY Sports Active Alliance."

Eversource Hartford Marathon (Hartford, CT)
Portland Marathon (Portland, OR)
California International Marathon (Sacramento, CA)
Rite-Aid Cleveland Marathon (Cleveland, OH)
GO! St. Louis Marathon (St. Louis, MO)
Indianapolis Monumental Marathon (Indianapolis, IN)
Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon (Champaign-Urbana, IL)
Novant Health Charlotte Marathon (Charlotte, NC)
US Bank OC Marathon (Orange County, CA)
Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon (Oklahoma City, OK)
South Padre Island Marathon (South Padre Island, TX)
Baltimore Running Festival (Baltimore, MD)
Oakland Running Festival (Oakland, CA)
Utah Valley Marathon (Provo, UT)
Santa Rosa Marathon (Santa Rosa, CA)

"We are extremely honored and very excited that Mazda has chosen the USA TODAY Sports Active Alliance as the running property to align with. As we continue to build the country's finest marathon series, our partnership with Mazda validates that we are well on our way in achieving this goal. Mazda's vision clearly aligns with ours, and together, we are ready to create "best in class" runner engagements across our races around the country, "said Bruce Revman Commissioner of the USA TODAY Sports Active Alliance.

The USA TODAY Sports Active Alliance is designed to allow marketers to efficiently navigate media, marketing and sponsorship opportunities through one centralized source.

Races within the Active Alliance receive visibility from a national platform and benefit from the vast media resources and assets that both USA TODAY Sports and the USA TODAY NETWORK, and parent company Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), provide, thus delivering new partnerships, increased local and regional promotion and heightened editorial coverage.

About the USA TODAY Sports Media Group

The USA TODAY Sports Media Group encompasses all sports initiatives across USA TODAY Sports and Gannett's more than 120 well-known local media brands. It also includes the sports photography wire service USA TODAY Sports Images; leading high school sports destination USA TODAY High School Sports; the social news hub For The Win, and the hundreds of sites within USA TODAY Sports Digital Properties such as TheBigLead.com and mixed martial arts site MMAJunkie.com, among others. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).

About Mazda

Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 700 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City. For more information on Mazda vehicles, including photography and B-roll, please visit the online Mazda media center at www.mazdausamedia.com.