Vodafone Malta has been named official sponsor of the Malta Marathon for the next five years. The event will now be known as the Vodafone Malta Marathon.

“Since its beginning 28 years ago, the Malta Marathon has always been sponsored by prestigious brands and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Vodafone for giving us their support,” said Malta Marathon & M2S race director Joe Micallef during a visit to Vodafone’s head office at Skyparks in Gudja.

The Malta Marathon is one of Malta’s most popular international sporting events.

Starting off with only 109 participants in 1986, the marathon has seen a yearly increase in the number of local and international participants, becoming a truly international event firmly set in the Maltese sports calendar. It is by far the largest sporting event in the country.

The 2014 Vodafone Malta Marathon will be held on February 23.

“We are very excited about supporting this local sporting event and we are committed to help make this already popular event bigger with standards that go beyond the norm,” said Sandro Pisani, head of marketing at Vodafone Malta.

“Marathons are fast becoming popular among the Maltese and we simply could not miss the oppor-tunity to be involved in the largest running event in Malta.”