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Raising the profile of Aviva

This special 4x100m relay race featured four teams each led by a retired athlete – John Regis, Iwan Thomas, Jason Gardener and Tony Jarrett. Each was joined by a member of the media, a competition winner and an Aviva employee.

Sky News presenter Kay Burley was one of the many runners who waived their usual fee and supplied extensive coverage for the event. Members of the public were recruited via a competition launched with thelondonpaper and hosted on Macmillan’s website. 

On the day the race was incorporated into the busy event schedule and was regularly showcased to the crowd by Kath Merry, the BBC’s in-field presenter, to encourage ticket holders to be in their seats for the start of the race. For the Aviva London Grand Prix, the showpiece event of the athletics calendar, H&K created the Macmillan & Aviva Exhibition Race 2009.