OREANDA-NEWS. February 24, 2011. SEB and the Tartu Marathon Club signed a sponsorship deal today which will see the bank continuing to support the club’s events from 2011 to 2015. Beneath a starting gate specially erected in central Tallinn, representatives of the bank and the club symbolically sealed the deal by signing a pair of skis, reported the press-centre of SEB.

SEB and the Tartu Marathon Club have been working together since 1997, and the bank has been its main sponsor since 2003.

“Sports and healthy lifestyles are very important to us here at SEB,” said Chairman of the Board Riho Unt. “Popular sports events are good for your health, boost your working ability and simply put you in a good mood! They give you the chance to escape from your everyday worries and get out and enjoy nature and the fresh air and good company. In sponsoring the Tartu Marathon events over the longer term, we’re contributing and adding to the promotion and development of sport.”

Indrek Kelk, Chairman of the Board of the Tartu Marathon Club: “It’s really important to us as a club to have a partner we can rely on. That’s the only way we can put on these events for the thousands of people who enjoy them, and not just people here in Estonia, but in other countries, too. The way we see it, SEB has proven itself through the long-term support it has given us, through good times and bad. We really appreciate it.”

300 km on skis
Marking the signing of the extended sponsorship agreement between the bank and the club, the SEB Expedition will head off from Tallinn by ski in the early hours of 17 February for the Tartu Marathon. This unique trip will be taken by a nine-member team, which aims to take the agreement over four days from Tallinn to the marathon’s starting gate and from there to the finishing line. The ambitious goal of the members of the team is that at least half of them will withstand the freezing temperatures and complete all five Tallinn-Paide-Tartu-Otepaa-Elva stages.

The expedition will set out from the SEB billboard near Tallinn Airport at 8:00 on Thursday 17 February. Their adventures, including photographs and videos, can be followed on Facebook at www.facebook.com/seb.eesti. Information about the expedition is available from www.x.firmasport.ee.