Ready to go at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon: Cruise Professionals' Sarah Alexandra & Christina Darcy, with Brenda Yeomans of Celebrity Cruises
Clarence Smith, Brenda Yeomans & Peter Lever at the Celebrity Cruises booth
Brenda Yeomans; her biggest fans Logan & Kate; Celebrity's Jennifer Barker, Field Marketing Manager & Sarah McDermott, Marketing
Brenda Yeomans; Kirk Lynn, Director of Marketing/Business Development, Canada Running Series; Celebrity's Jennifer Barker, Marketing Manager & Maxine Gunderman, DSM Eastern Ontario
Celebrity Cruises was one of the major Sponsors of the largest marathon event in Canada last Sunday and our team of Sarah Alexandra and Christina Darcy from Cruise Professionals and myself, were competing in the 1/2 marathon. I would have loved to run the full course, but had to be available at the finish line to help man our booth at Nathan Phillips Square. And, in conjunction with the annual marathon, we engaged with runners and other like minded active lifestylers at the Health & Fitness Expo at the Direct Energy Centre October 18th and 19th.
With over 25,000 runners and a spectator audience of 125,000 plus, it seemed like an excellent fit for our target audience of cruisers who would appreciate our Aqua Class features – as well as joining together to raise funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Canada which grants wishes to children living with life-threatening medical conditions.
It was a tad cold outside for both the runners and spectators, but at least it was sunny. I managed to run my personal best of 1 hr. 58 min. and placed 3954th out of 10,074 half marathoners... so, I’m pretty happy!
Our booth near the finish line was the envy of everyone - because we actually had Infrared Heaters in our space. Even the Medical tent people were coming over to warm up drinks and blankets, etc. for distressed runners when they finished. Glad we were able to be of assistance... and so popular!
On the popularity front, it didn’t hurt that we were giving away a Free Cruise for 2 in a Veranda Stateroom on a 2014 Bermuda sailing. We had lots of visitors signing up on our ipads throughout the 3 days of the Expo. We were very lucky to have Clarence Smith and Peter Lever from GoBermuda join us to help promote their beautiful island. As well, they were promoting the Bermuda Race weekend in January where I ran my 1st marathon.
We will also be giving away a Cruise for 2 to a lucky runner who registered for the Scotiabank run online. Stay tuned to Open Jaw for the announcements of those winners as we’re still uploading all of our data from the 3 days and then will be doing both draws.
Overall, we were delighted with the exposure and our weekend results. Our Regional Marketing Manager Jennifer Barker said, “Partnering with Canada Running Series is a 1st for Celebrity Cruises, and the prestigious Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon makes sense for the brand. Celebrity’s state-of-the-art fitness facilities feature Zumba, Yoga, Pilates, Boot Camp classes, the latest strength and cardio equipment and personal fitness trainers. We also offer one
of the largest, most luxurious spas afloat. Guests who book our Aqua Class, spa-inspired veranda staterooms have exclusive access to Blu, a specialty restaurant featuring Mediterranean-themed ‘clean cuisine.’ We look forward to bringing our modern luxury cruise line to life with runners, fitness and
wellness enthusiasts.”
For those Torontonians who aren’t big marathon fans... sorry about the traffic tie ups last Sunday. For those of you who are... we hope to be back with a bigger team next year – you’ve all got lots of time to train... get at it and join us next October.
Brenda Lynne Yeomans is Celebrity Cruises’ Canadian Sales Manager and will be running the Bermuda Triangle in January: 1 mile Friday; 10 K Saturday and 26.2. miles on Sunday.
