Allianz is calling all runners in Africa to run the World Run for health and for good

• The run encourages health, well-being and an unbeatable team-spirit. Based on the running and walking efforts during the 90 days from July to October
• Allianz will support five SOS Children‘s Villages across the world. In Africa, runners will be running for SOS Children’s Village in Chad, which will change the lives of almost 2000 people
• The Allianz World Run has raised 1.1 million euros over the past two years and assisted 22 SOS Children’s Villages around the world. Villages in Mali, Mozambique, Niger, South Sudan, Somalia and Ivory Coast were among the beneficiaries.

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:

1. Visit www.allianzworldrun.com on July 26 from 12:00 Central European Time and click on the “Join now” button.
2. Register for the Allianz World Run 2018 by choosing their continental team
3. Login with your existing Runtastic account or create a new one.
4. Download the Runtastic app and track your running, walking and hiking activities using the app or a connected GPS device. Activities tracked with your account will count automatically towards the Allianz World Run.
5. Participants can also visit allianzworldrun.com to track their live progress and communicate with their respective teams.