Marathon of Marathons 2010 - PEI Media

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Notes from the Road In the footsteps of Pheidippides | Athens, 31 October 2010 32 David Bentley, Future Fund, Melbourne A stellar fundraising from a very fast LP Tasting success “When our CEO Paul Costello approached me at the start of the year and told me about the opportunity to run in the 2,500th anniversary of the original marathon as part of a private equity and infrastructure fundraising initiative I was very enthusiastic about the opportunity. It was a great chance to compete in the most historically significant marathon in the world as well as a chance to raise funds for some important children’s charities. My initial commitment to Paul was somewhat complicated when in March I managed to qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii which was scheduled to be run only three weeks prior to the marathon. But even though it is not advisable to do more than a couple of marathons a year, the opportunity to run in Athens was something that I couldn’t possibly pass up so I decided that it would just have to be done, somehow. We had a whip-round in the office to cover the costs of the trip (including travel and accommodation) and Future Fund staff were extremely generous in their contributions towards these costs. Without this fundraising I would not have been able to participate, and we would not have been able to raise the funds that we were able to for charity. The main focus of the MoM was of course to raise funds for UNICEF and several other very worthy children’s charities. Our private equity firms were extremely generous in their contributions, with many managers contributing both personally and through their organisations. With this support we quickly surpassed our original goal of raising €10,000 and by the time I was scheduled to leave Melbourne we had almost hit €30,000 in commitments. So, with our fundraising target far exceeded, less than three weeks after completing the Hawaii Ironman and with the fatigue from that event having only just subsided, I departed Melbourne on a little experiment to see what happens when you do an Ironman and a marathon in the same month. After 30-odd hours of travelling, I finally arrived in Athens not really knowing which way was up! The race was very tough, but I finally crossed the finish line with the clock reading 2:54:53. It was a huge relief to finish and somewhat cruelly I immediately felt better once I’d stopped running. I collected my race medal and goodies bag and headed over to see John Campbell and the rest of the Campbell Lutyens organising team. We spent the rest of the glorious afternoon in the Olympic Stadium welcoming home the other members of the Marathon of Marathons team. It was a good way to spend a gentle afternoon in the Athenian sun. I would like to take this opportunity to thank both the staff of the Future Fund and each of the organisations who were so generous in their support of this event. I was honoured to participate in this event on behalf of our fund and am amazed at the generosity of our managers, many of whom also had their own participants in the event, whom they had also supported. We far exceeded our original fundraising target and the €30,000 was the second-highest individual fundraising for any MoMer.” Alternative Insight
Notes from the Road In the footsteps of Pheidippides | Athens, 31 October 2010 33 Ed Hutton, Campbell Lutyens, London Sas chairetízoume! “I would think it’s fair to say that if, a year ago, you had told most of my colleagues in Campbell Lutyens who ran in Athens last October that we would sign up – quite willingly – to run a marathon, you might have received a rather spicy response. But here we are, 15 weeks on from that fantastic event, and Team CL has achieved something most of us never dreamt we’d do, and we have raised an awful lot of money to boot. Outside of our daily business affairs, we tend to be a fairly unassuming bunch at our firm, so it’s my task to talk up Team CL’s input to the extraordinary Marathon of Marathons. 27 of our staff participated, but our total team numbered 39 runners and walkers, including our wonderful wives, husbands, family members, girlfriends and boyfriends. That in itself is a huge achievement – a mass mobilisation from a growing but still avowedly “boutique” firm. The fastest male runner award goes to our super swift Kiwi colleague and Middle East supremo, Simon Kinzett, who ran the course in a formidable 3.29.00, and fastest female award to project manager extraordinaire, Paula Langton, 4.40.54, who was most ably supported by co-running husband Dan. I‘m not sure, but I may take the slowest Team CL runner award at 5.16.54, but most importantly, the entire team made it round and that is all that counts! Then the money – the total raised by Team CL including an awesomely generous contribution by our senior partner and MoM mastermind, John Campbell, amounts to well in excess of €300,000. It’s an incredible sum. As with other MoMers, we were asked to nominate charities to be recipients of some of the funds raised. I myself put forward the Angus Lawson Memorial Trust, which funds children’s relief projects around the world. As a trustee of the charity I will see where and how the money we receive will be put to good use. I take my responsibility very seriously and will report back. Our colleague Richard Allsopp is linked to Anne and Johnny Maxwell’s charity, The Muir Maxwell Trust, and he alone raised a staggering €32,587 of sponsorship. Furthermore, we can be proud to have persuaded so many people from the world of private equity and infrastructure and their nearest and dearest to join us in Athens. Yes, the course was a huge struggle and the pain the runners and walkers felt was not insignificant. But who will ever forget coming into that splendid Olympic stadium to be met by the cheers of the blue T-shirted brigade of MoMers and supporters? Above all, it was a tremendously fun weekend. Everyone came away having made some new friends and cemented older friendships. There was a palpable sense of purpose and camaraderie. The spirit of the event was huge. So, well done Team CL. Collectively we can be very proud of what we achieved. But I know that I speak for all of us at CL when I say that we would much rather expend our energy thanking all of our co-runners, supporters, families, sponsors and all of you connected in so many different ways with the MoM. As the Greeks would say, ‘Sas chairetízoume’: We salute you!” Ed Hutton (left), Jean-Philippe Keravec Simon Kinzett, Chris Davidsson Conrad Yan, Andrew Sealey Matty, Richard and Milo Allsopp Alternative Insight
Page 1 and 2: Athens, 31 October 2010 In the foot
Page 3 and 4: Greeting from Euan McGregor In the
Page 5 and 6: Letter from John Campbell In the fo
Page 7 and 8: RUNNERS AND RIDERS In the footsteps
Page 9 and 10: ORGANISATIONS REPRESENTED BY INDIVI
Page 11 and 12: The Marathon of Marathons charities
Page 19 and 20: THE TRAINING In the footsteps of Ph
Page 21 and 22: The pre-race luncheon In the footst
Page 23 and 24: The pre-race luncheon In the footst
Page 25 and 26: Notes from the Road In the footstep
Page 33: Notes from the Road In the footstep
Page 37 and 38: Clash of the editors In the footste
Page 39 and 40: Notes from the road In the footstep
Page 41 and 42: Notes from the road In the footstep
Page 43 and 44: THe Dinner In the footsteps of Phei
Page 45 and 46: The results In the footsteps of Phe
Page 47 and 48: Closing note In the footsteps of Ph

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