| Miles for smiles | A chat round a swimming pool with friends in June 2008 culminated in 'Miles for Smiles', a travel retail industry charity fun run held in aid of The Smile Train (the world's largest and most effective cleft charity) on November 22 2008 at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai. Essential Communication's Row Holland is very proud to have been involved in the organisation of Miles for Smiles, along with Mandy Shine of The Moodie Report - it was a day she truly will never forget.
Incredibly, a massive $260,000+ was raised by the 55 industry runners that took part, both personally and through generous event donations, changing the lives of over 1000 children. Bahrain Duty Free was the Platinum Sponsor, while De Beers, The Patron Spirits Company and Salter Scales were all Gold Sponsors - between them covering the cost of organising the run. | Participants could choose between a 10k run, 5k run and 5k walk and while most dressed in appropriate gear, we were delighted to see TFWA's Michael Barrett in full Santa costume and Scorpio's Bruce and Jill McGuire dressed as Tarzan and Jane (next time I think we should have a fancy dress section!).
The overall winner of the men's 10k was Estee Lauder's Olivier Bottrie who completed the event in just 44.07 minutes. Fastest woman was Jumeirah Beach Hotel club runner Zoe Muir in 49 minutes and 17 seconds with Maui Jim's Martine Larroque top from the travel retail sector. The 5k run was won by Jumeirah Beach Hotel club runners Blair Look (men) in 22 minutes 27 seconds and Sharin Fitter in 24 minutes, 33 seconds. Dan Kongsted (Valora) and Jessica Brain (Jakk) were the top two travel retail runners in this section. In the 5k walk, Martyn Westbury, MARS, took the male prize and Carmel Horan , Dubai Duty Free, the women's. Prizes were presented by John Sutcliffe, managing director ARIME and Bahrain Duty Free, the event's Platinum sponsor (incidentally John was the fastest man over 50!). Winners received medals and a set of Salter weigh scales. | At the prize giving session, Martin Moodie, publisher of The Moodie Report and speaking on behalf of The Smile Train, said that the travel retail industry was the charity's biggest industry donator and has raised something approaching $2m over the past two years. Miles for Smiles has been the biggest fund raising event for the charity to date and the money raised would pay for life-changing operations for more than 1000 children.
Everyone taking part received a medal and fantastic goodie bag provided by MCM, containing fabulous gifts from Estee Lauder, JAKK , Puma, Clarins, Mont Blanc & Visions FZCO, Hugo Boss and Puma. Ice creams and sweet treats were provided by Mars, through its local office GFT and Van Melle. Industry runners were provided with Puma Cardiac Watches by Scorpio Distributors . | During the evening, Mandy Shine and John Sime hosted a post-run party, co-sponsored by The Zero Group. Wine was provided by Jacobs Creek and beer by MMI, along with vodka from The Brand Distillery and mixers from Truebell.
Many thanks to The Jumeirah Beach Hotel and Dubai Triathlon Club, without whom we could not have done it! Thanks also to all the Marshalls and helpers on the day (specially Jane Grant and Steve), David Spillane for handing out the extra prizes in the evening in his own inimitable style, and Peter Marshall for videoing the event and providing dvds for participants. Finally, a personal thank you to everyone who sponsored me - it is greatly appreciated.
Miles for Smiles will take place again in 2009, prior to the MEDFA Conference in Dubai. Watch out for more details on www.themoodiereport.com.
www.smiletrain.org |
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