Denver Rock 'n Roll Marathon
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Fitzgerald Petersen received a call in late 2005 from a small sports marketing firm interested in building the biggest Colorado marathon event in history. In our inaugural year, partners at Fitzgerald Petersen started on the ground floor and built a communications and marketing strategy to launch this race in Denver of 2006. In its first year, the race attracted over 5,000 marathon runners and surpassed the record for the largest marathon event in the state of Colorado. Equally impressive to the race participation was the outstanding media coverage. Numbers have grown year and after year and in 2008 the Denver Marathon events totaled 10,000 runners (capped for safety on this particular course) and press coverage continued to climb. In an effort to continually bring creative event ideas to the marathon, we have developed initiatives including offering Chicago runners a free entry to the Denver Marathon in 2007 when many of the Chicago runners were not able to complete due to the extreme heat.
We also partnered with Ringling Bros. in a press event when the circus was in town the same week of the Marathon in 2007 for a “15 Ton Run.” Partners at Fitzgerald Petersen introduced their two clients and produced Denver Marathon bibs placed on four circus elephants to race one city block to see which elephant would win the “training leg.” Coverage went beyond our local goals when NBC’s Today Show aired the 15 Ton Run along with over 500 TV news stations across the country.
Partners at Fitzgerald Petersen also work closely with local charity and non-profit organizations, like the Boys and Girls Club, to provide strong community events that give back to the Mile High City. In our work with McDonald’s, we were also able to encourage the development and initiation of the McDonald’s Mile Kids Race at the Denver Marathon which takes place the day before the marathon itself. Kids across the Denver Metro area participate in the race to complete a three month running program in downtown Denver just like marathoners, encouraging healthy, active living!
