Athletics: Aviva pulls out of athletics after 13 years Aviva will not renew its 13-year sponsorship of British athletics despite the sport's increased profile following the Olympic successes of Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis, the insurer said yesterday. The deal expires at the end of the year. UK Athletics has not named a replacement, but recent media reports suggested the sport was looking to increase its revenues by doing deals with a range of partners, rather than one exclusive sponsor. The new agreement will be a test of the commercial appeal of sports, such as athletics, on the back of a highly successful Olympics staged in London. The current agreement was reported to be worth about £8 million per year, although Aviva has not confirmed the figure. Aviva said its funding for the sport from grass-roots level onwards had helped to develop athletes such as heptathlete Ennis and Paralympic sprinter Jonnie Peacock, another gold medallist in London this year. "We will have had 13 great years with UK Athletics and it has been a fantastic partnership," explained Aviva's chief marketing officer Amanda Mackenzie. The support we've given has helped athletes such as Jessica Ennis and Jonnie Peacock reach the very top of their sport, with stellar performances in London over the summer. The sponsorship has also enabled us to build awareness of the Aviva brand among the millions of sporting fans across the UK and we feel now is the right time to pass on the baton to another organisation, Aviva, Britain's second-largest insurer, also sponsors English rugby's Premiership and Premier League football side Norwich City. Mackenzie added: "We've had the privilege of standing alongside our GB & NI athletics team, and we've helped more than three million youngsters take their first steps into the sport at a grass-roots level since 1999. We're confident athletics in the UK will continue to go from strength to strength. UKA's chief executive Niels de Vos said: "Aviva has been a superb partner for UK Athletics for 13 years. Without their support over these past years, there is no doubt that athletics would not find itself in the robust good health that it does - as the country's No 1 Olympic and Paralympic sport with a vibrant commercial programme of televised events and activities from the school playground to elite preparation camps.