Marty will celebrate his 65th birthday on June 24, 2013.

Happy Birthday to Marty! Marty Wanless Born June 24, 1948,
His friends in Vancouver are planning a special birthday celebration for him.

Marty moved from Calgary  to Vancouver  and started running in the 1970’s.  He  eventually ran a very credible 3:02:44 at the 1981 Vancouver Marathon at the age of 32;  the same race that famed running author Roger Robinson ran his personal best of 2:18:45 at age 41.

A year later the Vancouver International Marathon under the directorship of Don Basham became a founding member of AIMS.  Up until 1987 the Vancouver Marathon was founded and organized by Lions Gate Road Runners a club that Marty Wanless continues to be an active member of.

Marty created his own company called (All Sports Marketing) in an effort to help running events in Vancouver promote themselves to the running community.  With the help of Vancouver Marathon Director Gordon Rogers (also AIMS Technical Director) Marty was introduced to AIMS and became the AIMS North American Promotions Manager in Canada and the USA. He still holds this  position. 

Over the last 20 years Marty has attended many AIMS Congresses and Marathons around the world and has become a true friend to many race directors from all over the globe. In this age of computers, Marty Wanless however still prefers to pick up the telephone and talk directly with his many friends in the AIMS community.

In his term as an AIMS promotion manager Marty has seen a huge change in how marathons are marketed.  Up until the 1990’s the marathons were marketed primarily with paper event brochures that were distributed around the world both by mail, at running events and in magazines.  Runners would enter road races by the sending cheques and their completed paper entry forms by mail.

In the current world of the computer, the internet and now social media, events are now promoted instantly to millions of runners around the world and many events actually sell out within hours.

There is still a place for paper entry forms as they are still available as a physical reminder of how events were previously promoted. Marty has truly found a niche for himself in the running community that has resulted in many personal global connections.

In his over 20 years of promoting road races Marty has also recruited many runners to give back to the running community and volunteer their efforts to organizing road races. 

Marty is often consulted by many race directors. Like the AIMS Marathon Symposium, Marty believes in sharing his knowledge so that the entire road running community can benefit. 

With this in mind it is important to recognize Marty  Wanless on his 65th birthday and thank him for his significant contrition to the road running  community.

Frank Stebner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ZbR3WLlGo

Marty 604-682-5791 in Canada.

martywanless@gmail.com