Swimming NZ drops FINA World Marathon Swim Event

Swimming New Zealand has been forced to withdraw from hosting a round of the FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup next year, falling victim to the current challenging economic climate.

Despite extensive marketing work, Swimming New Zealand have been unable to secure a naming sponsor while their costs have risen considerably with the drop in the kiwi dollar.

“We set a deadline of 24 December to be able to secure the level of sponsorship necessary to ensure that the event did not run at a loss,” Swimming New Zealand CEO Mike Byrne said.

“Despite pitching our proposal to over 25 major companies and having secured television coverage to more than 30 million homes in the United States and Australia, we have been unsuccessful in attracting any sponsors.

“Swimming New Zealand does not have the financial reserves that would enable us to undertake the event without sponsorship. The lack of sponsorship has been compounded by the ongoing weakening of the New Zealand dollar against the US dollar.

“Whilst I am disappointed with this setback, I am also extremely optimistic for the growth of Open Water Swimming in New Zealand and will be working closely with our High Performance team Jan Cameron and Philip Rush next year to ensure that our Open Water programme continues to expand.”

The FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup is a fast growing professional open water circuit which gained considerable significance with the inclusion of the 10km open water swim into the Olympic programme at Beijing. A number of high profile long distance pool swimmers have moved into the open water scene with the introduction of this professional world cup circuit.