9/10/2007 

Unprecedented Around-the-World Relay Run to Fund Safe-Drinking-Water Projects Completes 15,200 Mile Global Journey

New York, NY —

An historic around-the-world relay run reached its finish line last week in New York City, marking the completion of an unprecedented three-month athletic endeavor that is raising funds to deliver safe drinking water to some of the 1.1 billion people who currently live without it.

The inaugural 2007 Blue Planet Run, an event made possible by the generous support of The Dow Chemical Company, ended at noon at Manhattan’s South Street Seaport.

The twenty original Blue Planet Run team members who circumnavigated the globe, and two alternates who joined the journey along the way, ran through a crowd of fans, family and friends who were gathered at the landmark New York City waterfront locale to celebrate with the group as it completed its epic 95-day, 15,200-mile expedition through 16 countries.

Beginning from the United Nations in New York City on June 1, the Blue Planet Run team has run relay-style 24 hours a day, seven days a week across Europe, Russia, Asia, Canada and the United States. The runners have endured some of the world’s toughest conditions, from swatting flies through the Gobi Desert to navigating city streets in Beijing to coping with the blistering summer heat of America’s heartland.

Along the way, the Blue Planet Run inspired people around the world to donate to the Blue Planet Run Foundation (BPRF), the non-profit group that organized the Run. Because of Dow’s support, BPRF dedicates one-hundred percent of the money raised to fund grassroots safe-drinking-water projects in rural communities.

“The goal of the Blue Planet Run is to deliver by hand a message to communities around the world about the need for universal access to safe drinking water, and to raise money to help make that a reality,” said Jin Zidell, CEO and Founder of BPRF. “From all ages around the globe, the Blue Planet Run proved that human beings from different cultures and walks of life have a remarkable ability to bring out the absolute best in each other when we simply communicate, face-to-face.”

According to BPRF, every $30 it raises can provide one person safe drinking water for life. Donations are accepted through its Web site, www.blueplanetrun.org. To date, BPRF has provided funding to 135 water projects in 13 countries.

“Dow is honored to have been the presenting sponsor of the inaugural Blue Planet Run.” said Andrew Liveris, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Dow Chemical Company. “As a global leader in science, technology and innovation, we believe optimistically and affirmatively in the simple idea that the world’s greatest problems can be solved. Our commitment to the Blue Planet Run is one of the ways we’re working to foster solutions to the major human challenges facing our planet today. The people of Dow around the world have risen to the challenge and embraced this epic event, which truly demonstrates the spirit of our Human Element.”

Nearly 2.2 million people, most of them children, die each year owing to diseases related to unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Water-related illnesses are the single greatest cause of human sickness and death worldwide.

The 2007 Blue Planet Run team represented 13 nationalities and ranged in age from 23 to 60. It included a renowned jazz musician, a Scottish gardener and a champion Japanese marathoner. BPRF selected the team from more than 300 individuals who responded to its open-application call. Team members rotated running in individual 10-mile (16-kilometer) shifts.

The 2007 Blue Planet Run is the first major fundraising effort of BPRF, which will continue to accept contributions and actively fund water projects as it organizes future runs and other programs.

BPRF’s next fundraising and educational effort will focus on its sponsorship of a breakthrough large-format book that illustrates the global drinking water crisis and working solutions using vivid photographs and compelling essays. In bookstores this fall, Blue Planet Run features a forward by Robert Redford and was created by renowned photojournalist Rick Smolan, the creator of the bestselling Day In The Life book series.

SOURCE: BPR Foundation