To mark Global Running Day on Wednesday, June 5, perhaps the world’s most famous foot race unveiled a new logo.
The Boston Athletic Association unveiled the new logo for the Boston Marathon on Wednesday, along with the announcement of a commitment of $500 million over the next 10 years to benefit “mission-aligned” non-profit organizations and bring 10,000 new runners into the sport.
The biggest change in the new logo is flipping the unicorn — nicknamed “Spike” — so that he’s facing to the right and his horn points northeast, the direction of the marathon route from start to finish. The unicorn also now appears in a banner shape, rather than in a portion of a circle.
Among countless other applications, the new logo will be painted at the race’s finish line starting in 2025.
Some social media users responding to the logo announcement were not happy, though, about the prominence of presenting sponsor Bank of America’s logo in the new race logo. Indeed, the bottom of the banner appears to have been tailored specifically for the BoA logo.
Similar concerns about corporate sponsorship were brought up at the 2024 race, as the Bank of America logo was very prominent on the medals handed out to racers. One runner, Cathy Connor, told the New York Times that the medal should be a symbol of accomplishment, not corporate ad space. “Why mess up a good thing? This isn’t a turkey trot,” Connor said.
The Boston Marathon is held every Patriots’ Day (usually the third Monday in April) and runs from Hopkinton, in southern Middlesex County, Massachusetts, to Copley Square near downtown Boston.
Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia won the men’s race in 2024 with a time of 2:06:17, while Kenya’s Hellen Obiri won the women’s race in 2:22:27.