#333: Managing Partnerships for the Nike Melbourne Marathon at IMG with Clayton Henderson

Oct 19, 2025

54:06

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Coming up on the show today is the SportsGrad Podcast’s first ever 3-time guest, Clayton Henderson, Partnerships Manager at IMG who worked on the 2025 Melbourne Marathon.

Clayton joined SportsGrad in 2021, and first appeared on episode #183, where he was fresh out of uni, before coming back in episode #231 to talk us through his role in Commercial Partnerships at Golf Australia.

Today, Clayton runs us through working on a record-breaking Melbourne Marathon in the role of Partnerships Manager at IMG.

If you want to understand the rapidly growing world of mass participation events, the commercial program of the IMG events cycle, and future developments to expect for large scale events, you’ll love this chat.

We cover:

(01:41) - Interview begins

(04:16) - Quickfire questions

(08:47) - How Clayton made his move to IMG

(0:13:43) - How the IMG events cycle effects Clayton’s role

(0:19:33) - Clayton’s work on the Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival

(0:23:50) - Advice Clayton wishes he could’ve given himself for this role

(0:27:36) - What IMG covers as a business

(0:29:11) - How Clayton made the first move in his career

(0:34:29) - Where have Clayton’s connections from SportsGrad Meetups led to?

(0:37:38) - Clayton’s learnings over the last 12 months

(0:43:40) - Clayton’s advice for someone becoming a young professional