As part of the new deal – which was brokered by Infront Sports and Media, Laserline will produce 80,000 copies of the 40th anniversary race programme, the certificates for each event starter, and receive advertising exposure along the route and online.

More than 40,000 runners are expected to take part in the main marathon, 10,000 students in the mini-mararthon and 2,000 in the bambini run, while 8,000 inline-skaters will also take to the streets of the German capital on September 29.

"With Laserline, Infront has provided us with an Official Partner who – just like the BMW Berlin Mararthon in the field of endurance sports – is a pioneer in the online printing business," said Christian Jost, chief executive officer of SCC Events, which distributes sponsorship marketing and media rights for the event.

"The sustainable and down-to-earth philosophy of the company also fits, given that it is not only providing an essential service to our top mass sport event, but is additionally involved in other events such as the Berliner Wasserbetriebe Team Relay and the TÜV Rheinland Berlin Marathon Relay."


The Berlin Marathon is part of the World Marathon Majors series, which sees the world's best marathon runners compete in a series of six races in Berlin, New York, Chicago, Boston, London and Tokyo each year.

"With the BMW Berlin Marathon, Laserline is setting its sights on a top German event that's popularity is growing year on year and will continue this trend beyond its 40th anniversary," Stephan Herth, executive director of summer sports at Infront, said.

"Endurance sport is booming worldwide and is steadily becoming established as appealing new television content – another plus for sponsors such as Laserline.

"This year the BMW Berlin Marathon is being produced to the highest international broadcast standards and is expected to be distributed into more than 100 countries."


Last year, Kenya dominated the men's race, with the top eight finishers coming from the east African country.

Geoffrey Mutai crossed the line first in a time of 2hr:04min:15sec, ahead of Dennis Kimetto and Geoffrey Kipsang.

In the women's race, Ethiopa's Aberu Kebede finished 49 seconds ahead of compatriot Tirfi Tsegaye in a time of 2:30:30, with Olena Shurhno of the Ukraine in third place.

In 2011, Patrick Makau from Kenya set the current marathon world record in Berlin, running a time of 2:03:38 over the course in the German capital, which has witnessed the most marathon world records of any event, with a total of eight being set in the men's and women's races, since the first Berlin Marathon in 1974.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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