• by Thom Forbes  @tforbes, May 13, 2015

Richard Branson, who never seems to run out of new ideas for extending the Virgin brand name, yesterday posted a blog item about his latest venture — Virgin Sport, which “aims to change the health and wellness game for good.” Mary Wittenberg, who for a decade has led New York Road Runners (NYRR), which conducts the TCS New York City Marathon among other events, will be its CEO. 

“Virgin Sport will expand the reach of mass participatory events in running, cycling and other formats,” writes Branson, who points out that he finished the Virgin Money London Marathon in 2010 with his son and daughter and has “pushed [his] physical and mental limits” on long bike rides such as the Cape Argus Cycle Tour.

“We’re big believers in having fun while making a difference, so Virgin Sport will make this possible on a large scale by encouraging participants to raise millions of dollars for charity.”

That’s not to say it’s a charity itself.

“This is both a large market and a highly fragmented sector with opportunities for a customer-focused brand such as ours to establish a significant market presence,” says Virgin Group partner Evan Lovell in a release. “We have a long and successful history building and investing in businesses where we provide customers with unique experiences, and we believe Virgin Sport will not only be financially successful but will help change people's lives for the better.”

The enterprise will be based in New York but will launch in the U.K. and “focus on core Virgin territories including the U.S., South Africa and Australia through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth,” according to the release. 

“By jumping into races — a market founded and still dominated by local organizers — Virgin is following other big entrants such as Walt Disney Co. and gym chain Life Time Fitness, as well as private-equity firms like Providence Equity Partners, owner of the Ironman Triathlon races, and Calera Capital, owner of Competitor Group’s Rock ’n’ Roll race series,” write Kevin Helliker and Sara Germano  for the Wall Street Journal.

“Besides lucrative sponsorships, these companies are reaping profits from an ever-growing crowd of recreational athletes willing to pay three-figure registration fees to compete in footraces, cycling events, triathlons and obstacle-course races,” they observe.

It’s not Virgin’s first foray into fitness, reports CNBC’s Anita Balakrishnan. “Virgin Group's international line of health clubs, Virgin Active, was acquired by South African investment holding company Brait in April. Virgin Pulse, a wellness app for companies to use with their employees, also includes fitness trackers for wearables,” she writes.

Wittenberg is a “trailblazer” and “has proven that she is one of the top sports executives in the world,” NYRR board chairman George Hirsch says in an AP story.

“Ultimately, I could have stayed at New York Road Runners forever because I loved the organization and I loved the impact it made,” Wittenberg tells the New York Times’ Juliet Macur, who has written an exhaustive (and exhausted) appreciation of the 52-year-old attorney by training. But after five months of self-deliberations, she “decided to start new,” Macur reports. 

“Her detractors could not care less about her being a force of nature,” says Macur, who trailed Wittenberg for a day in 2012 and figures she ran 20 miles doing so. “Many are hard-core, old-school runners who consider her too corporate and grumble that Road Runners doesn’t serve the local community as it once did.”

But as Branson points out, “she increased participation in NYRR events and youth programs to more than 400,000 people annually … and has been instrumental in revolutionizing the way people around the world view the health and fitness community.” 

With 50,000-plus finishers, the TCS New York City Marathon has become the largest marathon in the world under Wittenberg’s leadership, points outFortune’s Phil Wahba. “She also landed major sponsorship deals for her races, including one with Tata Consultancy Services and Airbnb, launched the popular NYC Half Marathon, and grew the Brooklyn Half Marathon into the largest 13.1-mile race in the country,” he reports.

Wittenberg’s leadership came under fire “soon before and in the months after the cancellation of the 2012 New York City Marathon just 36 hours before the scheduled start,’ writes Scott Douglas for Runner’s World & Running Times’ newswire. “In a 2013 interview with Runner's World, Wittenberg said NYRR learned from the experience to communicate more frequently and openly.”

Wittenberg will be replaced by her two top deputies, Michael Capiraso and Peter Ciaccia, according to Hirsch in a release. “To Mary’s credit, she put her successors in place, which I regard as the hallmark of a successful leader,” says Hirsch.