Posted: February 28, 2005

Athletics: The Greatest Race on Earth winners share over US$1,000,000 payout

LONDON 28th February 2005:

The inaugural Standard Chartered Greatest Race on Earth Series reached a thrilling climax in Hong Kong on Sunday.

On the day the Standard Chartered Hong Kong marathon was won by Samson Loywapet in a time of 02:15:21. But, it was Jon Rono running a very tactical race in a time of 02:17:39 who managed to steer his team, PACE Sports Management to victory in the series overall, ahead of The Kenyan National team runner Paul Bor who finished in a time of 02:17:45. The winning team takes home a cheque for US$400,000 whilst second and third take away US$195,000 and US$125,000 respectively.

Main Team Challenge - 1st prize US$400,000 - results summary

Team Name Cumulative Time after 4 races (hrs:min:sec) Time difference to leader (hrs:min:sec)
PACE Sports Management 09:11:31 00:00:00
Kenyan National Team 09:16:15 00:04:44
Marathon Wizzards 09:18:33 00:07:02
 

In the Nations Team Challenge, despite finishing second on the day in a time of 02:16:10 Kasiral Sita from Zimbabwe was unable to overhaul the formidable lead established by the Kenyans over the first three races and the Zimbabwean National Team had to settle for second place overall.

For Great Britain, an excellent performance by Darran Bilton in 02:32:25 saw them finish fourth overall behind Zambia in third with a great run from MacMillan Mwansa in 02:33:09

The fastest women in the Greatest Race in Hong Kong was Feri Subnafeu running for the Indonesian National Team who finished 2nd in the Ladies Race in a time of 02:44:19

Nations Team Challenge - 1st prize US$70,000 - results summary

Team  Cumulative Time after 4 races (hrs:min:sec) Time difference to leader (hrs:min:sec)
Kenya 09:16:15 00:00:00
Zimbabwe 09:22:24 00:06:09
Zambia 09:55:37 00:39:22

In the "winner takes" all Individual Challenge the competition went right down to the wire. An outstanding run by Stephen Ndungu saw him finish third on the day in a time of 02:17:33. Ndungu went from being over 8 minutes behind the leader Martin Longuran at the start to just over 2 minutes at the finish and a mere 6 seconds behind second placed Cleophas Rop.

Individual Challenge - 1st prize US$100,000 - results summary

Name Cumulative Time after 4 races (hrs:min:sec) Time difference to leader (hrs:min:sec)
Martin Longuran 09:20:11 00:00:00
Cleophas Rop 09:22:10 00:01:59
Stephen Ndungu 09:22:16 00:02:05
 

For a full set of results go to www.thegreatestrace.com.

The Standard Chartered Greatest Race on Earth Marathons

Last year, about 70,000 people ran in Standard Chartered sponsored marathons in four major cities. In 2005, Standard Chartered Bank is proud to be title sponsor of marathons in six major cities across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The marathons characterise the values and attitude that Standard Chartered believes in, and lives by everyday - a "can-do" attitude, a priority on strength of trust, willpower, stamina, and the determination to "go the distance".

This year, Standard Chartered presents The Greatest Race on Earth, a challenging virtual relay race across the Bank's four established marathons.

* In Nairobi on 24 October 2004

* In Singapore on 5 December 2004

· In Mumbai on 16 January 2005

· In Hong Kong on 27 February 2005

3 competition categories

Main (open to all) Prize pool of USD 1 million prize pool - fastest combined time of four runners across all four events (one runner per team per race); top prize of USD 400,000; prizes to 15th place

Individual USD 100,000 Winner Takes all prize for fastest individual time across all four events

Nations Prize pool of USD 145,000 - fastest National Athletics Association-fielded team time of four runners in all four events (one runner per team per race); top prize of USD 70,000; prizes for the top three. Additional prize pool for the top three finishers in the Regional categories: South East Asia, North East Asia, South Asia, Africa, Middle East, Europe and Oceania.

Charity ties - including the Bank's own global initiative, 'Seeing is Believing' - means that every step raises money to help make a difference in people's lives. Henry Wanyoike, a blind distance runner and world record holder in the 10km for the visually impaired, will run in all four of the races. Standard Chartered will match public donations, up to USD 1,000 for every kilometre he runs to Seeing is Believing.

Standard Chartered - leading the way in Asia, Africa and the Middle East

Standard Chartered employs 30,000 people in over 500 locations in more than 50 countries in the Asia Pacific Region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the United Kingdom and the Americas. It is one of the world's most international banks, with a management team comprising 70 nationalities.

Standard Chartered is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and is in the top 25 FTSE-100 companies, by market capitalisation.

It serves both Consumer and Wholesale Banking customers. Consumer Banking provides credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, deposit taking and wealth management services to individuals and small to medium sized enterprises. Wholesale Banking provides corporate and institutional clients with services in trade finance, cash management, lending, security services, foreign exchange, debt capital markets and corporate finance.

Standard Chartered is well-established in growth markets and aims to be the right partner for its customers. The Bank combines deep local knowledge with global capability.

The Bank is trusted across its network for its standard of governance and its commitment to making a difference in the communities in which it operates.