This article was originally published in the Brand Finance Marathons 50 2025 report.
The Abbott World Marathon Majors in comprised of a series of the world's top seven largest and most renowned marathons. The series includes the London Marathon, New York City Marathon, Boston Marathon, Tokyo Marathon, Berlin Marathon, Sydney Marathon, and Chicago Marathon.
Brand Finance's research found that the total brand value of the seven Abbott World Marathon Majors is almost $1 billion ($937 million). Together, they generate more than half of the total economic impact of all 50 marathons analysed in the ranking and raised $276 million for charitable causes in 2024 alone.
Dawna Stone, Chief Executive Officer of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, shares her insights on the series' role, values, and far-reaching impact.
Interview with Dawna Stone.
Chief Executive Officer,
Abbott World Marathon
Majors
What would you say is the primary role at the Abbott World Marathon Majors? Is there a particular mindset or motivation of runners that benefits you?
Abbott World Marathon Majors provides inspiration through the power of the marathon. We celebrate the very best marathon runners on the planet, but more broadly, bring the entire marathon community together.
It is difficult to complete a marathon, and even more difficult to commit to going on the journey to run all the Majors. That shared experience brings people together. Abbott World Marathon Majors provides the platform for runners to achieve that goal and celebrates their achievements.
Marathon runners are, by nature, driven to improve, always asking what they can do better next time or how they can get faster. That mindset is the spark that sends them on their journey through our races.
How has the partnership with Abbott shaped the brand and mission of the World Marathon Majors over time?
From the start, Abbott’s goal to help people live life to the fullest was a perfect fit for us. Running a marathon embodies that mindset, it reveals what we’re capable of when we're at our healthiest.
This mindset has continued to shine through our decade-long partnership with Abbott, particularly through their development of wearable health technologies that provide real-time feedback and empower people to improve their health as they pursue their goals. When you share an objective like that with your title sponsor it makes the relationship one of true partnership.
How do you ensure AWMM reflect its values in every aspect of the marathon experience, from race day to post-event engagement?
The races that make up our family of Majors have incredible operational teams that put on the best marathons in the world. Central to this is the participant experience, from registration, to packet pickup, race day and post-race.
Our small part in that is to make sure it’s a memorable moment for our Six Star Finishers when they cross that line and receive that Six Star medal. Our team works to ensure everyone is celebrated and you can see from the content on our social channels on race day that we are truly living up to that goal of inspiring the world through the power of the marathon.
How can marathons continue to impact local communities and global causes, beyond just being an athletic competition?
All of our races are very conscious that the events they stage have a lasting impact on their communities. You only have to look at London where over GBP1 billion has been raised for charities or in Boston where their economic impact in 2024 was over USD500 million according to the Boston Athletic Association.
The effect these races have is enormous. They also all do a huge amount of work to broaden access to activity in parts of their communities where it is needed most, and they are constantly working on ways to do things that make a real difference.
Where do you see the sport of marathon running heading in the next decade?
The demand for our events has never been higher. From our perspective, this momentum strengthens our case for expanding the series to nine races, giving runners another meaningful milestone to aim for.
As diversity, equity and inclusion continue to shape the sport’s growth, we expect to see a broader, more representative community emerge, driven by people seeing others like themselves taking part.
