DUBAI. Olivier Bottrie, Estée Lauder Companies President, Travel Retailing – Worldwide, today won the Miles for Smiles 10k run at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai. The event raised around US$200,000 for children’s cleft charity The Smile Train.
 Coming to the end of the road |
| A tribute not only to the fund-raising efforts of the 60 runners but also to the collective generosity of the industry. |
| More on The Moodie Blog |
The event was a tremendous success, attracting over 60 industry runners and a big crowd of local athletes. Bottrie’s time was a very quick 44 minutes and seven seconds.
The Moodie Report Publisher Martin Moodie defied his age and surprised himself and others by finishing in 49 minutes and 36 seconds. A full report will follow soon, complemented by an alternative report on The Moodie Blog.
To listen to pre- and post-race reaction on The Moodie Podcast, click here. For comment on The Moodie Blog, click here.
In a note to the runners, sponsors and donors, The Smile Train Co-Founder Brian Mullaney wrote: “You’ve trained and you’ve persevered to reach today’s goal and on behalf of my organisation, Smile Train, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you and congratulations for all of the work that you have done on behalf of poor children with cleft lips and palates all over the world.
“Margaret Mead once said, ‘Never doubt the work of a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’ All of you are proof of that today – every morning that you woke up a little bit earlier before work so you could put your feet to the pavement to train for today’s event, every time you told a friend or neighbour about how you were helping children who otherwise would be forgotten by the world, every time you smiled and, in turn, passed it along to someone else who smiled as well.
“I would like to thank the countless individuals who have pitched in to help make today happen and all of the generous corporate sponsors who have lent a hand. Many of you have stretched yourself both physically and mentally to places you didn’t know possible and in turn have served as an inspiration for our organisation and others. It truly is unbelievable how the travel retail industry has embraced our mission and, in turn, has done their part to help change the world.”
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Olivier Bottrie (second from right) accepts the prize for first place in the Miles for Smiles 10k run from John Sutcliffe, Managing Director of major sponsor Bahrain Duty Free and organisers Rowena Holland of Essential Communications and Mandy Shine of The Moodie Report. His time was a rapid 44 minutes and seven seconds |
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The preparation for the big race got everybody warmed up and psyched up |
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“Me Tarzan, you Jane”: Bruce and Jill McGuire of Scorpio Distributors prepare for an outing… |
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… and return from their jungle excursion |
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Race marshalls David Spillane and Sunil Tuli display their trademark professionalism |
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Santa Claus is coming to town… except in this case it was Michael Barrett of TFWA |
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Martyn Westbury of Mars Travel Retail won the 5k walk and raised over £11,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support |
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Martyn Westbury with fellow runners Martin Moodie and Alan Edwards of Scorpio Distributos |
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The Moodie Report Publisher finishes the 10k in a respectable 49 minutes and 36 seconds |
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Great sponsorship by Bahrain Duty Free, De Beers and Salter typified the industry support for Miles for Smiles |
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Breeda McLoughlin, Anna-Marie Sutcliffe, Carmel Horan and Colm McLoughlin at the big race |
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It’s a tough job being a marshall but someone’s got to do it… |
