2004-08-18
THE GREATEST RACE ON EARTH MARATHON CHALLENGE
Standard Chartered offers One Million Dollars in prize money for four races

Hong Kong, 18 August 2004 - A groundbreaking event has been added to the marathon calendar. Standard Chartered Bank announced it is offering over USD1 million in total prize money for teams with the stamina and courage to take on four of the Bank's sponsored marathons.

These are fantastic marathons in some of the most exciting places in the world," said Mike DeNoma, Group Executive Director. They are not your standard marathons, but challenging races in exotic surroundings, and that's what sets them apart."

Standard Chartered sponsors six marathons across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, reflecting its global footprint, and hosted in its key strategic markets. This year, Standard Chartered presents The Greatest Race on Earth, a challenging virtual relay race across our four established marathons in Hong Kong, Singapore, Nairobi and Mumbai. In 2003 - 2004, over 70,000 people ran in four Standard Chartered marathons. With the Greatest Race on Earth, the Bank is hoping for nearly 100,000 this year.

The Standard Chartered Greatest Race on Earth is a super relay race for teams of 4 runners across all four marathons. The main Team Challenge category is open to men and women over 18 years of age, of any nationality, with no restriction on the level of competence. Each team member will run in one marathon. Teams must nominate who will run in each full marathon before the start of the series, and the winning team will be the one whose athletes record the lowest aggregate time across the four marathons.

The challenge will be deciding which team member will perform best in each of the marathons. The Standard Chartered marathons span some of the toughest environments in the world. Nairobi, for example, has one of the highest elevations of any international marathon, while Singapore and Mumbai have two climates among the most humid of any race.

In addition to the team challenge, there is a winner-take-all Individual Challenge category, with USD100,000 going to the individual with the best time across all four marathons.

" It's not going to be easy," observes DeNoma, "but that's what makes it worth doing. We have one of the largest prize pools of any marathon in the world because we recognise it will be an outstanding achievement for those who are willing to try, and who have the stamina and determination to succeed."

The first marathon in the circuit will be the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon, on 24 October 2004. Those up for the challenge should log on to the Greatest Race website at www.thegreatestrace.com to register. The website has all the rules and links to each of the country marathon sites to review the details of each marathon.

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Released on behalf of Standard Chartered Bank by Octagon Greater China.

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