ANA Corporate Ekiden Relay - Co-director's Note

I'm helping out a friend who's trying to organize a cross country event in San Francisco on November 1st. Really, it's not about the running but the COOL PRIZES that they give out! You probably won't do another race like this with the amount of cool schwag and raffle prizes for runners. Here's his message:


"I'm trying to promote a corporate relay race where 4 pairs of tickets to Japan are going to be randomly given away. The whole thing is an attempt by ANA (the lesser known Japanese airline company) to get its name out there and market itself among companies that do business in Asia. Initially, we were trying to recruit teams off of a list, but that REALLY didn't go well at all and we had to push the event date back a few weeks to give us more time to recruit teams. As we became more desperate, we didn't care anymore if teams were on the list. Really, I shouldn't say "we," because it's not my ass on the line. However, I offered to help (I'm returning a favor, really) and if the project is a complete failure then I'll feel guilty and certainly at least a little responsible...
Anyway, what I really want to say is that at this point the event is essentially a raffle where you have REALLY good odds. It's $100/team of 4, so $25 per person, and a ticket to Japan is over $1000. They're giving out 8 total tickets (4 pairs) and there are probably only going to be about 30 teams (120 people total). This means that for $25 your expected value is $66.67 ($8000/120 people) so you'd have a positive expectation, which is more than one can say these days about most things, including Wall Street. Oh, and there's all-you-can eat/drink beer, sake, and BBQ chicken included as well.
To tell the truth, I'd so much rather be running and possibly winning the random prize, than be involved in the event as a worker. That aside, if ANYBODY READS THIS and you're free on NOVEMBER 1 in the morning, you should think about participating. Just ask and I'll give you all the fun details."

Click here for registration details

Oh boy, I also have another friend who is promoting the Miles for Migraine 5K, 10K, 2 Mile walk held on December 7, 2008. Race registration and course details can be found here .

Thanks!