How ASICS is leveraging Mumbai Marathon’s 50,000 runners for national growth

Over the last decade, India’s marathon economy has quietly scaled into a sizeable business and cultural force. Flagship races like the Tata Mumbai Marathon now attract over 50,000 participants annually, while satellite races, sponsorships, merchandise, travel and allied services have turned the country’s running calendar into a multi-crore ecosystem. Industry estimates suggest India hosts 1,200+ organised running events each year, with participation growing steadily across metros and Tier 2 cities alike.

This rise has been driven not only by elite athletes but by everyday runners, corporate professionals, first-timers and community-led groups, who have transformed running into a shared social ritual. Few brands have had as close a vantage point on this evolution as ASICS, which has been associated with India’s running landscape for more than a decade through long-term marathon partnerships.

At the launch of ASICS’ continued association with the Tata Mumbai Marathon 2026, Social Samosa spoke with Saurabh Sharma, Director – Marketing, ASICS India, to understand how running became mainstream, how the brand interpreted this shift, and what sustained investment in marathon properties delivers beyond visibility.

What's running on consumer's mind? 

Sharma traced the sport’s mass appeal to its simplicity. “If you really think about it, running is probably the easiest sport to start,” he said. “You don’t need a ticket, you don’t need to buy a bat or a ball, you don’t need a football, and you don’t need to find a dedicated space. You don’t even need friends. You just need a pair of shoes, a road, and you start running.”

While participation was already building before 2020, Sharma observed that the post-pandemic period accelerated adoption across demographics. “After 2020, the kind of reach that running got in the Indian market went to another level,” he said. “People started getting more serious about fitness. They started learning about fitness culture, understanding their bodies better, and realising that movement doesn’t need to be complicated.”

Beyond physical health, he pointed to the psychological reward cycle that sustains the habit. “Once you run, the kind of dopamine and happiness you get after finishing a run is on another level,” Sharma explained. “Those happy hormones really hit you. And that feeling makes people want to run again.”

Running, he added, has also become a social anchor in urban India. “We are all working in corporate environments today. Earlier, we would just step out in the evenings and meet friends. Now everyone is busy doing something or the other,” Sharma said. “What happens now is that on weekends, people wake up early, meet their friends, do a nice fitness activity together and become part of a community.”

This community-led behaviour has translated into measurable growth. “Running as a sport is growing at close to 19%,” Sharma said. “Earlier, you could count running events on your fingers. Today, when the running season starts — roughly from August to April — almost every weekend has one event happening somewhere in the country.”

He described running as foundational to all athletic pursuits. “Running has always been the mother of all sports,” Sharma said. “Cricket, football, any sport you take up — fitness and running are at the base. That’s why I feel running will continue to grow much faster than most people expect.”

From sponsorship to system-building

As the sport matured, Sharma noted that runners became more informed, pushing brands to move beyond surface-level engagement. “When running matures as a sport, people start getting into the scientific aspects of it,” he said. “That’s where our in-store experience becomes important.”

He described ASICS’ retail approach as diagnostic rather than transactional. “We don’t just offer you a shoe. We make you run on a treadmill, analyse your gait on a screen, and give you a report — landing pattern, mid-foot transition, take-off. Then we recommend a shoe based on that. That immersive experience is critical for serious runners.”

While Mumbai remains a stronghold, Sharma emphasised that growth is increasingly decentralised. “Running is very popular even outside Mumbai,” he said. “Tier 2 and tier 3 cities host large 5K and 10K events with strong local participation.”

To respond to this, ASICS divided the country into regional focus zones. “In the north, we associate with the New Delhi Marathon. In the west, Mumbai plays a key role. In the south, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are very important,” Sharma explained. “These are places where serious runners come, and we want to engage with them where they already are.”

At the grassroots level, the brand launched the ASICS Running Club across 11 cities. “It’s essentially a school of running,” Sharma said. “You have coaches, influencers and structured sessions twice a week. It’s free, and after a few sessions, participants even get an ASICS t-shirt. This helps us build depth, especially in tier 2 markets.”

On consumer spending, Sharma rejected rigid metro-versus-non-metro distinctions. “I look at India more in terms of tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3,” he said. “In tier 2 cities, you still have consumers who can spend as much as someone in a tier 1 city. The difference is distribution, not intent.”

This thinking also shapes retail assortment. “A ₹25,000 shoe will definitely be visible in tier 1 cities,” he said. “In tier 3 cities, the focus may lean more towards accessible price points. But across our stores, you’ll still find products ranging from ₹5,000 to ₹25,000.”

E-commerce, Sharma acknowledged, plays a complementary role. “Lower price-point products do well on marketplaces because of reach,” he said. “But high-end products still perform best on our own channels where experience matters.”

Quick commerce, however, remains a cautious frontier. “We are not on q-commerce platforms right now,” Sharma said. “A few brands tried and didn’t see results. For our category, conversation and understanding are important.”

Reflecting on ASICS’ long-standing association with the Tata Mumbai Marathon, Sharma framed it as foundational rather than opportunistic. “ASICS started sponsoring the marathon years before we even had stores in India,” he said. “From 2008 onwards, we were present to understand runners and culture.”

Once retail followed, the impact became visible. “When our stores opened in Mumbai and Delhi, footfalls were never an issue,” Sharma said. “The marathon had already built that platform for us.”

For Sharma, the logic was straightforward. “If your goal is to lead running, you have to work with the biggest running property,” he said. “Mumbai Marathon is that platform, and the association has helped us build long-term consideration, not just awareness.”