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Johannesburg, July 26 2018 – Allianz is calling on running and walking enthusiasts from all sectors of society in Africa to join the third Allianz World Run, the biggest global running event, which will commence on July 26 and end on October 24, 2018. The initiative promotes health, well-being and an unbeatable team-spirit and raises funds for SOS Children‘s Villages.
Runtastic, a global fitness platform, will provide technical infrastructure for the competition through their in-depth running knowledge and a huge community of 240 million app downloads and 130 million registered users. The Allianz World Run will comprise of five global teams, namely Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America and South America. These teams will represent one dedicated SOS Children‘s Village and one specific project related to the overall social responsibility framework of “Improving Future Generations”.
Thusang Mahlangu, Allianz Global Corporate Specialty (AGCS) Africa CEO, comments: “By utilizing the global power of running while tracking and sharing progress for 90 days in a creative and engaging way, the Allianz World Run has become one of the most powerful engagement activities ever. More than 20,000 Allianz employees across all functions and management levels participated and provided some really impressive milestones during 180 days of running in the last two years. This year we are calling on all walking and running enthusiasts across the continent to join us in running the Allianz World running for health, fitness and for good.”
“We have been delighted in previous years to see so many runners, ranging from novices to veteran marathoners, joining the Allianz World Run,” says Norbert Meder, CEO at SOS Children's Villages International. “We provide 87,000 children and young people in 135 countries with a safe place to call home and strengthen the families of half a million more. Having a global partner like Allianz helps to make our work possible.”
Based on the running efforts during the 90 days, Allianz will support five SOS Children‘s Villages across the world – one specific village and topic per team. With more than 580,000 displaced people, the situation for refugees in Chad remains extremely challenging especially for children, who are forced to leave camps and sites to seek livelihoods and access to food, forcing them in turn to adopt negative coping strategies such as begging and survival sex. That’s why the African team will be running for SOS Children’s Village in Chad, which will provide an emergency programme to reach close to 2000 vulnerable people including children in the refugee camp of Amboko in the Gore region bordering Central African Republic. The programme will provide a child friendly space to ensure children have access to psycho social support in a safe and secure environment as well as access to formal education.
The more you run the more children are assisted through donations from Allianz to SOS Children’s Villages. For example, 1,890 children can get supported if every team runner covers 150km. The Allianz World Run raised 1.1 million euros over the past two years and assisted 22 SOS Children’s Villages in Mali, Mozambique, Niger, South Sudan, Somalia and Ivory Coast over the same period.
“We still hold the world record for the ‘longest cumulated distance run by one team in 90 days’ and could even increase the average distance per participant – an integral part of the record from 111.75km to 134.19km. The record has been approved by the Records Institute of Germany, an institution that specializes in examining top performances of various kinds and approving records all over the world. The more records we break, the more we enable SOS Children’s Villages to break barriers of violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect,” adds Mahlangu.
Follow the five steps below to join the Allianz World Run and explore with us:
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Press contacts
Johannesburg: Lesiba Sethoga +2711 214 7948 lesiba.sethoga@allianz.com
Johannesburg: Lerato Kiviet +2782 817 4139 lerato@awethupr.com
About Allianz
The Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with more than 88 million retail and corporate customers. Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, ranging from property, life and health insurance to assistance services to credit insurance and global business insurance. Allianz is one of the world’s largest investors, managing over 660 billion euros on behalf of its insurance customers while our asset managers Allianz Global Investors and PIMCO manage an additional 1.4 trillion euros of third-party assets. Thanks to our systematic integration of ecological and social criteria in our business processes and investment decisions, we hold the leading position for insurers in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In 2017, over 140,000 employees in more than 70 countries achieved total revenue of 126 billion euros and an operating profit of 11 billion euros for the group. These assessments are, as always, subject to the disclaimer provided below. In Africa, Allianz is currently present in 17 countries[i] and accompanies clients in 38 countries. Its 1,500 employees achieved regional revenues of 600 million euros in 2016. Allianz also provides micro-insurance for 500,000 low income families and individuals in Africa.
About Runtastic
Founded in 2009, Runtastic has rapidly grown into an innovative suite of apps, content and services that track and manage health and fitness data to motivate individuals to get in shape, stay healthy and improve overall fitness. In August 2015, the company was acquired by adidas Group.
With more than 253 million downloads and 132 million registered users, Runtastic’s mobile apps track distance, speed, pace, duration, heart rate, calorie consumption and route traveled (via maps) when running, biking or engaging in other fitness activities. The results can then be viewed directly within the app and also on Runtastic.com, where users see their online training history, get detailed data analysis and compare their progress with others. In order to provide guidance and motivation in all areas of health and fitness, the Runtastic portfolio also includes training plans and apps for bodyweight training, nutrition and step tracking, to name a few. Whether you are a novice or an athlete, Runtastic apps make living a healthy, active lifestyle fun and easy. Additional information can be found at Runtastic.com or you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or on the Runtastic blog.
About SOS Children’s Villages
SOS Children's Villages is the largest non-governmental organisation focused on supporting children without parental care and families at risk. Founded in 1949, the organisation today runs 2,300 programmes reaching more than a million children and adults in 135 countries and territories. We adhere to the principle that every child grows best in a family environment, with loving parents or caregivers, living together with their siblings, in a place they can call home. We work with communities, local partners and authorities to support disadvantaged families to prevent family breakdown. We aim to influence decision-makers to promote the well-being of children, especially of those without parental care. We also help care for and protect at-risk children and families in more than 20 humanitarian emergencies.
Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements
The statements contained herein may include prospects, statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements.
Such deviations may arise due to, without limitation, (i) changes of the general economic conditions and competitive situation, particularly in the Allianz Group's core business and core markets, (ii) performance of financial markets (particularly market volatility, liquidity and credit events), (iii) frequency and severity of insured loss events, including from natural catastrophes, and the development of loss expenses, (iv) mortality and morbidity levels and trends, (v) persistency levels, (vi) particularly in the banking business, the extent of credit defaults, (vii) interest rate levels, (viii) currency exchange rates including the EUR/USD exchange rate, (ix) changes in laws and regulations, including tax regulations, (x) the impact of acquisitions, including related integration issues, and reorganization measures, and (xi) general competitive factors, in each case on a local, regional, national and/or global basis. Many of these factors may be more likely to occur, or more pronounced, as a result of terrorist activities and their consequences.
