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Title Sponsor History

1973 – The race debuts as the Acacia Cherry Blossom Invitational Run, thanks to Acacia Mutual Life.

1974 – The race name is changed to Acacia Cherry Blossom Classic, and the entry fee is dropped for the ten-mil-
er, a tradition that would last for twenty years.

1977 – Union First Bank of Washington replaces Acacia Mutual Life as title sponsor.

1978 – Perrier becomes the new title sponsor and brings four-time winner-to-be Bill Rodgers along with them.

1984 – Nike replaces Perrier as title sponsor, bringing with it $13,400 in prize money.

1991 – After seven years as title sponsor, Nike turns the top role over to Northern Telecom, a major telecommuni-
cations company which had just recently opened a World Headquarters in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Under Northern Telecom the prize money grows to $21,500, the largest purse ever.

2002 – After an 11-year run as title sponsor, Nortel Networks steps down – its sponsorship a victim of the collapse
of the internet bubble. Greg Farmer, Nortel’s Senior VP Global Government and Community Relations, says, “I
do not believe that any other sponsorship has provided Nortel with such a high profile with Washington policy-
makers.” By the end of the summer, a group of approximately 40 Credit Unions, mostly from the Washington,
DC Metropolitan area, forms an organization called the “Credit Union Miracle Day Committee,” and signs on. It
is a win-win situation as the event helps the Credit Unions raise nearly $100,000 for the Children’s Miracle Net-
work and hundreds of Credit Union employees and members sign up as volunteers.

To this day, Credit Union Miracle Day remains the collaborating group behind the sponsorship of Credit Union
Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run. Their fundraising efforts have resulted in over $9 million being donated to Chil-
dren’s Miracle Network Hospitals across the United States. Fundraising in 2018 totaled $380,000 (did not include
the Credit Union Sac Town Run).

2019 Credit Union Cherry Blossom Media Guide 43