Hit the road Jakk

News reaches The Moodie Blog that the 56 runners and walkers enlisted so far for the ‘Miles for Smiles’ fund-raising run and walk (and sometimes both) in Dubai on 22 November have already raised nearly US$40,000 for children’s cleft charity The Smile Train.

Miles for Smiles takes place on Saturday 22 November in Dubai commencing at 0800 hrs. The annual Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup Tournament then takes place on 23 and 24 November and the MEDFA conference follows in Abu Dhabi on 25 and 26 November.

The Moodie BLOG is delighted to reveal the two latest high-profile industry entries, Jilly Brain, owner of Australian travel retail jewellery specialist Jakk, and her daughter (and designer) Jessica – together known in the business as The Brains Trust.

Smarting from Australia’s performance in the Beijing Olympics – arch-rival Great Britain took more gold medals, much to the Aussies’ chagrin – The Brains Trust are determined to restore the sort of lustre to the country’s sporting reputation that one normally only finds on a piece of fine Jakk jewellery.

As our photo above shows, the pair have been in extensive training, running countless miles around the Australian outback while listening to their theme tune – ‘Hit the Road Jakk’ – on their walkwomens.

Below (top) they can be seen ‘warming down’ after a recent training session, while the next picture down underlines the astounding benefits of a regular fitness regime – and a good photoshop programme.

The Moodie Blog welcomes other suggested theme tunes for any runners/walkers in the field (see full list below). Yours truly is currently training hard to Bruce Springsteen’s ‘It’s gonna be a long walk home’.

The best suggestion wins a bottle of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.
Here is the field to date:

ABU DHABI DUTY FREE: James McLean

AER RIANTA INTERNATIONAL-MIDDLE EAST: John Sutcliffe, Michael Murphy, Karl Sutcliffe (Muscat Duty Free)

CAT DESIGN: Richard Thorpe

DIANA ALBIOL MEDIA RELATIONS: Diana Albiol

DUBAI DUTY FREE: Breeda McLoughlin, George Horan, Anne Smith, Sean Staunton, Sinead El Sibai, Salah Tahlak

ELEMIS: Isabelle Caprano

EMIRATES: John Sime, Katrina Cooper, Helen Roxburgh, Elizabeth Dales, Sharon Thorpe

ESSENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS: Rowena Holland

ESTÉE LAUDER TRAVEL RETAILING WORLDWIDE: Olivier Bottrie, Jean-Charles Séité

FLIGHT CENTRE (The Moodie Report’s travel agent): Phil Burdekin

FRENCH & LAWLESS: Claire Iredale

FRONTIER: Marek Kolasinski

GEBR HEINEMANN: Nadine Heubel

GODIVA: Gerry Murray, Ramon Iglesias

GULF NEWS/TRAVEL RETAIL MARKETS: Catharine Thomas

JACKY’S GULF FZE: Gautam Raghani

JAKK: Jilly Brain, Jessica Brain

JONATHAN HOLLAND & ASSOCIATES: Jonathan Holland

L’ORÉAL TRAVEL RETAIL: Giles Naour, Pascal Blot

MARC O’POLO : Toni Hager

MAUI JIM: Martine Larroque

NÉSTLE ITR: Alan Brennan

PATONS: James Kfouri

PIONEER INTERNATIONAL: David Bevan

PREMIER PORTFOLIO: Garry Maxwell

PUMA: Thomas Henningsen

SCORPIO: Stuart McGuire, Garry Stoner, Alan Taffy-Edwards

THE BRAND DISTILLERY – ULUVKA: Mark Holmes

THE MOODIE REPORT Mandy Shine, Martin Moodie

TIMEX: Hans Eulenhoefer

TRT UK: Christine Martin, Ray Martin

ULTRA MARINE: Max Williams, Angie Mullen

VALORA: Dan Kongsted, Mona Kongsted

VAN MELLE: Patrick Dorais

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS: Carole McManamon

ZERO: Geoff Hutley

 [*The author aims to raise at least US$5,000 and hopefully much more for The Smile Train by completing the ‘Miles for Smiles’ run. Please consider sponsoring me at http://www.justgiving.com/martinmoodie]

NOTE: You can check out the progress of other runners in the ‘Running Miles for Smiles’ section at the top of the home page of The Moodie Blog. Runners – please send us your contributions. They encourage others, especially me, to endure this terrible, terrible humiliation.