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Sir Geoff Hurst MBE and
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Sir Geoff Hurst MBE |
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Sir Geoff Hurst MBE, football legend and charity campaigner, last night launched the BG Energy Challenge 2010 – UK, the largest annual team building and fundraising event for the energy industry. Sir Geoff, Ambassador for this year’s event, attended the launch reception in London, where corporate teams associated with the energy sector were invited to sign up, network with other participants and find out more about the event and benefiting charities. The Energy Institute was also announced as the official media partner to the BG Energy Challenge 2010 – UK at the launch.
The BG Energy Challenge – UK, hosted by BG Group, a world leader in natural gas, is taking place from 8 to 10 July 2010 in Aviemore, Scotland. Now in its fifteenth year, BG Group hopes to build on the £2.3 million raised by the UK event to date. Money raised from the UK event will again be supporting two charities; the children’s medical research charity Sparks, who will benefit for the fourth successive year, and CARE International, the overseas development agency which has been involved since the inaugural event in 1996.
Sir Geoff Hurst MBE, hat-trick hero of England’s winning 1966 World Cup team and 2010 President of charity Sparks said: “I’m delighted to support the BG Energy Challenge which has raised more than £5.4 million for charities around the world. The UK event is a true test of stamina and the sense of achievement is fantastic. I am personally looking forward to taking part in July and experiencing the event for myself. The rewards for charities such as Sparks, who are solely reliant on the donations of organisations like BG Group, are invaluable.”
In 2009 a record £274,000 was raised by 45 teams with all the action captured for Channel 4’s Intelligent Sport® World Series.
Speaking at the launch Mark McCarthy, Head of Brand Communications, BG Group, said: “We’re pleased to have Sir Geoff Hurst’s support and I am sure this will once again prove to be an outstanding year, both in terms of participants and, more importantly, the money raised for our charities. The event provides a unique platform for team building, networking and fundraising in an environment like no other!”
This year teams will face a range of physical, intellectual and strategic challenges including orienteering, mountain biking, kayaking and construction in and around Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands. They will be joined by senior executives from their companies for a thrilling Leaders’ stage. The event will test their teamworking and communication skills to the limit.
Companies associated with the energy industry wishing to take part and help with the fundraising can apply online now at www.bg-energychallenge.com/uk and receive regular updates by following http://twitter.com/BG_Challenge_UK
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Notes to editors
BG Group
BG Group plc (LSE: BG.L) is a world leader in natural gas, with a strategy focused on connecting competitively-priced resources to specific, high-value markets. Active in more than 25 countries on five continents, BG Group has a broad portfolio of exploration and production, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), transmission and distribution and power generation business interests. BG Group seeks to support social and economic development in the communities where it does business by providing structured funding for community initiatives that match its skills transfer theme. For more information, visit
www.bg-group.com
BG Group’s sponsorship portfolio is called Energy for life. The BG Energy Challenge series is part of that portfolio. For further information visit www.bg-group.com/sponsorship
About CARE International
CARE is one of the world’s largest aid agencies, working in 70 countries to fight poverty and helping more than 65 million people every year. Our long-term programmes tackle the deep-seated causes of poverty and we are always among the first to respond when disaster strikes. We remain with communities to help them rebuild their lives long after the cameras have gone. CARE is working to put an end to the causes of hunger and poverty that keep 120 million people in sub-Saharan Africa permanently living on the edge of emergency. For more information about CARE, visit www.careinternational.org.uk
CARE is currently assisting the people of Haiti following the recent earthquake, with water, food, emergency shelter and a commitment to remain to help as long as the need is there. CARE has been working in Haiti since 1954, providing projects in HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, maternal and child health, education, food security, and water and sanitation.
About Sparks
Sparks is unique. It isn’t a single cause charity. Sparks is the only charity to fund cutting edge research across the whole spectrum of paediatric medicine. Working with doctors and scientists at leading universities and teaching hospitals across the UK, Sparks research work encompasses childhood cancers, childhood arthritis, meningitis, spina bifida, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, the risks associated with premature birth and many other conditions affecting babies and children in the early years of life. Sparks has already committed over £18.1 million to fund more than 203 research projects with the aim of giving more children the best of all starts in life…a healthy one. For more information about Sparks, visit www.sparks.org.uk
About Intelligent Sport®
Intelligent Sport® is widely celebrated cutting edge team development concept. Specifically designed for business, the Intelligent Sport® concept combines the thrills of adventure sport with strategic challenges and real business competition. Its primary aim is to give companies and their key people first-hand experience of the power of teamwork, drawing on strategy, intellect and physical ability, resulting in development of core business skills and providing inspiration that makes the difference to performance back in the workplace. For more information, visit www.intelligentsport.com
For more information about the event and how you can get involved contact:
Kate Edmunds / BG Group
kate.edmunds@bg-group.com
0118 929 3223
For media information and images from the launch contact:
Anna Grainger / brandRapport
agrainger@brand-rapport.com
07919 525 334