Standard Chartered sponsors Bahrain Marthon Relay

• Promotional campaign starting Thursday
• Promote healthy lifestyle and raise funds for local charities
• Promote Standard Chartered Seeing is Believing global initiative

Bahrain, 17 July, 2013 - Standard Chartered Bahrain has announced that it is one of the official sponsors of the upcoming annual Bahrain Marathon Relay due to take place 25 October at the Bahrain International Circuit. The signing ceremony took place at the Standard Chartered headquarters in Manama where the agreement was signed by Standard Chartered Bahrain CEO, Hassan Jarrar and the Chairman of the Bahrain Marathon Relay organising committee, Jackie Beedie.

Commenting on the sponsorship, Hassan Jarrar, CEO of Standard Chartered said, 'Standard Chartered is now title sponsor of nine marathons across four continents and six races including the Bahrain Marathon Relay and Qatar. These sponsorships have helped Standard Chartered raise awareness of its own global charity campaign, Seeing is Believing and healthy lifestyle. We've been in Bahrain for over 90 years and sponsoring the race is yet another way for us to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the country.'

Jackie Beedie, Chairman of the Bahrain Marathon Relay organising committee said, 'We are very pleased to have such a great institution as Standard Chartered become a main sponsor. We hope that this will be the start of a long association and look forward to working with them for many years. With Standard Chartered on board along with Viva and our other sponsors the Bahrain Marathon Relay's future as the biggest participation event in The Arabian Gulf is assured for many years to come.'

The Bahrain Marathon Relay in its 32nd year, is believed to be the longest race in the Middle East with a distance of 48km. The distance is divided into 16 legs where each leg is approximately 3km. Teams from all sectors can participate with 16 running members. Teams with a lower number of runners can also participate on the condition of ensuring that runners do not run two legs consecutively. Registration fees will be donated to local charities and organisations in Bahrain.

As part of the sponsorship, Standard Chartered will run the 'Corporate Challenge' especially designed for companies to participate in, scheduled to take place on the same day of the Bahrain Marathon Relay itself. It will also promote activities and raise awareness of its global sustainability initiative 'Seeing is Believing', the Bank's global sustainability programme to help tackle avoidable blindness. This programme has since helped restore the sight of more than 2.5 million people globally, and the Bank has committed to raise USD100 million by 2020.

In addition to Standard Chartered, Viva is another Almaz sponsor to the Bahrain Marathon Relay.

Registration for the Bahrain Marathon Relay starts now by contacting bmr_registrar@hotmail.com.

For further information, please contact:

Noora Al Nusuf
Head of Corporate Affairs
Standard Chartered Bahrain
Tel: 00973 17150760
Mobile: 00973 39627737
E-mail: Noora.alnusuf@sc.com

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