Doing It For The Kids

The Australian financial services industry was out in force last week burning fat to raise money for the treatment and prevention of diseases affecting children.

A non-stop 10 hour treadmill challenge saw UBS take out top honours ahead of the bean counters at Ernst & Young, which had won the endurance event for the Melbourne leg on September 7.

The event is an initiative of the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI) but is referred to as the Foxtel Lap due to the pay TV company being the principal sponsor.

burningpants went along to see what all the commotion was after hearing hundreds of city-types were manically running on treadmills in the middle of Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD.

The day included a ‘Chief’s Challenge’, where senior executives donned their shorts and runners in the name of raising money for charity.

Businesses and their staff were encouraged to see how many 100 metre laps they could run over the day – running from 7am to 5pm.

Runners were sponsored by friends and family, colleagues and others for every lap they ran during their 30 minute dash for charitable glory.

The UBS team was able to clock up a staggering 1,275 100-metre dashes (127.5kilometres) over the day, while E&Y recorded a commendable 1,189 laps.

E&Y clocked 1,249 the week before in Melbourne to pip the ‘NAB Trotters – 1,239 – for first place.

Other financial services groups represented in the Sydney or Melbourne legs included Macquarie, AON, CBA, BankWest, Investec, ABN AMRO, HBOS, ANZ, QBE, Deloitte, KPMG and Russell.

The final part of the series kicks off in Perth on September 23.

NAB was one of two corporate sponsors that have supported the event since 2003 – unfortunately the business and private banking team was unable to match the performance in Sydney of the two teams in the Melbourne contingent – the NAB Trotters and NAB Business and Private.

Luckily this league table measures charity work and not relative business performance between groups.

Meanwhile a spokesperson for the event told burningpants the event was hoping to raise $1 million for MCRI after hosting and other costs were taken into account.

MCRI receives 60% of gross revenue generated by Foxtel Lap, with the balance of funds being used to cover the costs of managing and staging the event.