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Est. 1996

Issue 132

February 2008

ISSN: 1357-1168

Top chefs to take on the Brewers in the Flora London Marathon Challenge

Eight of the industry's tops chefs have come together to compete against a team of brewers in this year's FLORA London Marathon on Sunday 13th April. The 'Chefs on the Run' team, led by Michelin starred chefs Michel Roux Jr and Anton Edelmann, will take to the capital's streets, after months of healthy eating, training and preparation, to run 26.2 miles in pursuit of personal pride and fundraising goals.

The team of chefs, brought together by FLORA, include the nine-times marathon runner and culinary legend Michel Roux Jr, chef de cuisine at Le Gavroche; Hospitality Action's Ambassador Anton Edelmann; Jerome Ponchelle, chef de cuisine at The Wiltons; Robert Clayton, executive chef at Merchant Inns; Jean Luc Hoez, senior sous chef at Coq d'Argent; Paul Robinson, chef at Wheatsheaf Inn; Christophe Gueraud, former head chef of Michelin starred restaurant L'Escargot and Unilever Foodsolutions' very own development chef, Shane O'Connor.

The challenge has been set to see which of the teams will cross the finishing line in the fastest time - individual times will be collated and an average time given to the team. A group of runners from Fuller's2 ran last year to celebrate the company's first year of sponsoring the event, so they were keen to take on the challenge and go head-to-head with the chefs.

Category Director Unilever Foodsolutions UK, Susan Gregory, comments, "We're delighted to be working with London's last remaining traditional family brewer in promoting the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and the importance of eating and drinking sensibly. The challenge will generate great excitement on the day and we hope it will incentivise the runners to push themselves that little bit further."

Susan continues. "It's fantastic to see so many of our industry's finest coming together and competing in one of the world's greatest marathons. For the runners to commit to such a worthy cause and to use the little spare time they have to train is really something. It's going to take hard work and determination but we're confident that they'll do it and raise a lot of money for their charities in the process."

Operators can also join in the fun and offer their customers a healthier choice by running the FLORA customer promotion. Consumers have the opportunity to 'take the FLORA challenge' every time they purchase a FLORA portion. On purchase they will receive a card with a unique number - a team finishing time - that they text in be entered into a UK-wide prize draw to win a DREAM TICKET worth £10003. The entrant selected at random from all valid entries received by 13th April 2008 shall walk away with the ticket. Operators can download the POS kits from http://www.unileverfoodsolutions.co.uk/sales/flora_marathon.

For more information on the FLORA 'Chefs on the Run' team, the charities they are running for and FLORA products please visit www.unileverfoodsolutions.co.uk.