Industry Shorts: Vitality Running World Cup, Women In Sport
The Vitality Running World Cup will begin at midnight on 5th March.
The event, which allows anyone anywhere to compete for their country in a World Cup, will see 300,000 runners from 195 countries and territories take part. Every participant who registers and then completes three kilometres in under 30 minutes on a smartphone or fitness device contributes towards their country’s total.
Eight-time gold medallist Usain Bolt will captain Jamaica, 2012 Olympic gold medallist and Vitality Ambassador for the UK, Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill will captain the UK, and Rio 2016 Champion Wayde van Niekerk will lead for South Africa.
The event forms part of Vitality’s commitment to get 100 million people 20% more active by 2025, addressing the global issue of inactivity.
Women in Sport has released its latest impact report, showing figures for 2018 and 2019.
In that time, the charity – which researches sport purely from the perspective of women and girls – says it has impacted nearly 32,000 women through programmes and partnerships, reaching over 14 million people with its campaigns.
It says it has also raised £1 million through funders and partners, money which has supported projects to transform the lives of women and girls through sport in the 2018/19 financial year.
The Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping has launched a new advertising campaign ahead of the Dutch Masters – the sport’s first major of the year.
Following on from its two-year ‘Surpass yourself and become a legend’ campaign, the new ‘The Quest for Excellence’ campaign tells the story of the passion and dedication needed to excel in show jumping.
The concept comprises footage from each of the four majors that make up the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping, mixed with graphics that highlight the key attributes of the riders. The series has also announced a global and digital activation across social media and TV which will ‘highlight the intricacies of the sport and bring them to life’.
The BPA has announced its Chef de Mission appointments for the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games and the Paris 2024 Summer Games.
Tokyo 2020 Chef de Mission Penny Briscoe will lead at the Paris Games, in what will be her tenth Paralympic Games. She was at the helm when ParalympicsGB won 147 medals, including 64 golds, to finish second in the medals table at Rio 2016.
Meanwhile Phil Smith, who was Deputy Chef de Mission at Pyeongchang 2018, and will reprise that role at Tokyo 2020, will take on the Chef de Mission role in 2022. He is currently Head of Sport at the BPA and responsible for the development and implementation of the Games Services strategy for each Summer and Winter Games.
The International Surfing Association (ISA) has welcomed the IOC Executive Board’s approval of the French Polynesian island of Tahiti as the location for Paris 2024’s Olympic Surfing competition.
Teahupo’o will be the venue for the surfing events at the Games, and during the competition the athletes’ village will be made up of temporary modular houses which will be dismantled after the competition, among other initiatives, to ensure the Games are sustainable and the impact on the environment is minimised.
