NN Running Team Announces Transition of Partnerships: NN Group becomes founding partner
Title Partnership Announcement
Today, the NN Running Team announces the transition of partnerships within the team. At the end of 2025, NN Group will change its role from title partner to founding partner. NN Group will remain involved with the team, continuing its support and commitment to the sport and the teams’ athletes. Throughout our partnership, NN Group left its footprint in the sport of running and will continue to do so in the years ahead. The new title partner will be announced on 5 January 2026.
Since its inception in 2017, the NN Running Team which is founded by Global Sports Communication and supported by NN Group and NIKE, reshaped the global running landscape. With a bold vision, NN Group helped build the world’s first professional running team, elevating the sport through innovation, athlete support, and storytelling with successes to show it along the way.
In the past nine years, the partnership has produced many achievements, including world records, Olympic and World Championship medals, countless marathon victories, and the creation of some of the most memorable moments in modern athletics such as NN Mission Marathon and NN Valencia World Record Day. Together, NN Group and Global Sports Communication have redefined what is possible in the world of distance running both on and off the roads.
An Incredible Partnership
Global Sports Communication celebrates NN Group for its vision, trust, and long-term commitment. Their support towards the team was important in creating a platform that supported athletes while inspiring millions of runners.
Mariëlle Krouwel, Chief Marketing Officer at NN Group: “We look back with pride on the achievements of the NN Running Team. Our partnership with Global Sports Communication has redefined professional running on a global scale, and the team and its people remain truly dear to us. Together, we will continue to inspire others to start running, get moving, and challenge themselves - embracing the belief, as Eliud Kipchoge says, that no human is limited. As founding partner, we look forward to supporting the team’s continued success, advancing the sport of running, and encouraging participation and well-being within communities worldwide.”
Marleen Vink-Rennings, Marketing Director at NN Running Team: “We have always believed in the power of teamwork in running. By running as one, we can improve the support, performance and storytelling surrounding our world class athletes. We are forever grateful for NN to share our vision and their trust to pioneer with us to make this dream a reality. Since 2017 we have transformed the running landscape, inspired millions of runners worldwide, shared the stories of our athletes while further professionalizing the performance structure around the athletes resulting in so many great moments and victories over the course of 9 years. We look forward to this next chapter for the team and the continuous support of NN Group as our founding partner.”
INEOS Completes 6-year as NN Running Team Main Sponsor
At the end of the year INEOS will complete its 6-year partnership with the NN Running Team. A monumental partnership that saw Eliud Kipchoge break the 2-hour barrier at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, Austria in 2019. A moment forever etched in history. After this historic feat INEOS continued to support the team at large. The partnership focused on athlete support, performance innovation and knowledge sharing amongst the other INEOS Sport entities such as INEOS Grenadiers cycling team, INEOS Brittania sailing team, and Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team.
Jean-Claude Blanc, CEO of INEOS Sport said: “Our partnership with Eliud Kipchoge and the NN Running Team over the past six years has been grounded in performance, supporting extraordinary athletes do extraordinary things. No better example than this, was Eliud breaking the two-hour marathon barrier in Vienna, at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge, proving to the world that No Human is Limited. The legacy of this moment and the partnership that followed will remain large as we wish Eliud and the team every success in the future.”
Marleen Vink-Rennings, Marketing Director at NN Running Team: “When a partnership starts with the goal to achieve something so audacious that mankind has never been able to achieve it before, you know you are in for something special. Over the past 6 years we have created history together. What started with Eliud Kipchoge becoming the first person in history to break the 2-hour barrier on the marathon, during the INEOS 1:59 Challenge, evolved into a partnership where our athletes and staff had the privilege to collaborate and learn from other leading teams in different sports across the INEOS Sports portfolio. INEOS has played an important part in our team’s history and allowed us to push our performance to new heights through all of its support. For this we are eternally grateful and look back proudly on our achievements, knowing this partnership will forever have a place in the history books as the greatest achievement in long-distance running.”
New Team Identity
With the transition of our title and main sponsors, the team is entering a new chapter. Welcoming incredible new sponsors fills us with pride and affirms the lasting strength of the vision we began nine years ago. We look forward to the future with great excitement and will proudly introduce our new partners on 5 January 2026.
Until then, fans of the team are invited to go through the NN Running Team’s online memory book and vote for their favourite moments.
For further information, interview requests or other inquiries please contact:
Laurent Dieste | +31 (0)6 21 55 42 51 | laurent@gscmail.nl