Recherche

Steve Green from Yeovil is a materials manager with Thales, who is supporting his participation in the race.

A former Yeovil rugby player, Steve will be competing in the ‘Foster Grant Ironman 70.3' championships to be held in Florida on 8 November, and will be raising money for Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

Regarded as one of the world's most challenging triathlon events, the Clearwater-based race consists of a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride, followed by a 13.1 mile run - a total of 70.3 miles.

The 45-year-old is no stranger to good causes, having previously raised £1,300 for the National Deaf Children's Society in a Thales-organised London to Paris bike race in 2006, and more than £1,800 for Yeovil's St Margaret's Hospice and the Piers Simon Appeal in 2007.

"I remember seeing the comedian David Walliams swimming the English Channel for charity in 2006 and that inspired me to learn to swim as I wanted to do triathlons to raise money for charity as well," says Steve.

Steve started to compete in ironman events with such success that he found himself entering a world championship qualifying event in Wimbleball this year.  "It was cold, wet and hard-going. On the bike ride it is 52 hills in 56 miles but I did enough to qualify for the 45 to 49-year-old age group," he says. "I couldn't believe it, a world championships wasn't something I expected because I haven't been competing for that long. My aim now is to raise as much money as possible - they are both very worthy causes."

A website (www.justgiving.com/greener) has been set up in the lead-up to the November race to gather sponsorship money.

Marie Curie Cancer Care is one of Thales UK's corporate charities. The charity provides Marie Curie Nurses who care for terminally ill people in their own homes, surrounded by the people they love the most.

Following Thales UK's success last year in raising £100,000, Thales has set itself an even more ambitious target of raising £130,000 for this worthy cause, and staff in each of the 50-plus offices will all run different events in order to contribute.

Every £20 raised will help Marie Curie Cancer Care fund one hour of nursing care in the home, allowing patients to be with their families during their last days.

"Marie Curie Cancer Care is an outstanding charity and we're proud to be supporting them. Their dedication to and care of terminally ill patients is second to none," says John Howe, Vice Chairman of Thales UK.

About Thales and Thales UK

Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, addressing defence, aerospace and security markets worldwide. Thales' leading-edge technology is supported by 22,000 R&D engineers who offer a capability unmatched in Europe to develop and deploy field-proven mission-critical information systems. To this end, the group's civil and military businesses develop in parallel and share a common base of technologies to serve a single objective: the security of people, property and nations. The group builds its growth on its unique multi-domestic strategy based on trusted partnerships with national customers and market players, while leveraging its global expertise to support local technology and industrial development. Thales employs 68,000 people in 50 countries with 2007 revenues in excess of £8.3 bn.

Thales UK employs 9,000 staff based at more than 50 locations. In 2007 Thales UK's revenues were over £1.2 bn.

Press contact:

Thales UK
Kathryn Bell
Mob: +44 7813 903274

Thales UK, Naval
Adrian Rondel
Mob: +44 7971 414052