News of: Saturday, October 18 2008,
Tomorrow's Amsterdam Marathon is the last that will be held as the 'ING Amsterdam Marathon'.
ING has decided to stop sponsoring the event.
The decision is a big blow for the marathon organization, as it used the ING money to attract the world's best runners.
ING is one of Holland's largest banks, and it now appears to be hit by the financial crisis. Its shares have gone down by 27% just before the weekend and the bank had to report a big quarterly loss, but it is unclear whether this has led to the decision to end the sponsorship.
The organization hopes to find a new sponsor for next year quickly.
The City of Amsterdam has said it will not fund the organization.
Tomorrow, the 33rd edition of the marathon, there are 24,000 participants. More information can be found on http://www.ingamsterdammarathon.nl.
