Providian Relay Will Debut September 25 and 26
SAN FRANCISCO, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The Relay (http://www.TheRelay.com), a
high-tech adventure relay race in the San Francisco Bay Area, announced today
that Providian Financial (NYSE: PVN) will be its 1999 title sponsor. The
newly-named Providian Relay, which traverses 199 miles through seven
California counties from Calistoga to Santa Cruz, will raise awareness about
the importance of organ donation. Providian Financial is a San
Francisco-based consumer lender with 10 million customers nationwide.
Providian has long been a supporter of its communities and has expanded
its involvement in the San Francisco Bay Area since becoming a public company
in June 1997. Providian's Vice President for Corporate Affairs Jim Wunderman
said, "This event is a great opportunity for Providian to help an incredibly
worthy cause. Providian is proud to support The Relay and the important work
the race strives to accomplish to promote organ donation awareness."
Founded in 1995, The Relay has become California's premier team running
event with a course that dots the California Coastline, covering many of
California's most popular tourist destinations. Relay teams are comprised of
twelve runners who rotate and run three legs of approximately five miles each.
In its inaugural event four years ago, the race was small and intimate with
nine teams. The number of teams participating has steadily grown and this
year over 200 teams are expected to participate in the Providian Relay on
Saturday, September 25 and Sunday, September 26.
Runners are charted throughout the race with sophisticated technology that
follows them up hill and down, off road and on. Relay sponsors make this all
possible. In addition to Providian Financial, other sponsors include
Presenting Sponsor Channel 5, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Compaq
Computer. Trimble Navigation donated GPS technology to provide maps for
runners. Intermec, which has donated the use of $250,000 of bar coding
equipment for the past three years to provide precise timing of runners, will
test new radio frequency technology this year.
The Providian Relay has several appealing and distinctive facets. First,
it is a challenging and team building experience for runners. The true spirit
of a relay is working together to meet challenges and overcome obstacles.
Both exist in this relay which covers 199 miles over a 24 hour period -- day
and night. Next, the course covers some of the most scenic landscapes in the
country. To top it off, it's for a great cause: raising awareness about the
critical need for organ donations.
In the United States alone, over 60,000 people are waiting for a
life-saving organ transplant, according to the United Network for Organ
Sharing. Another name is added to that list every sixteen minutes, says the
Coalition on Organ Donation, but the good news is that one donor can save five
to seven lives. "The challenge," says Race Director Dr. Jeff Shapiro, "is
raising awareness about the importance of organ donation. More than half of
the commitments to donate organs are rescinded by grieving families after the
death of a family member who said they would donate their organs. If organs
were available from just two-thirds of willing donors, the current transplant
crisis would be alleviated."
The Relay (http://www.TheRelay.com) was founded in 1995 by a group of avid
runners. The idea of dedicating the relay to raising awareness for organ
donation came the next year from one of those runners, Dr. Jeff Shapiro, who
worked in transplant medicine as the Director of Stanford Medical Center's
Critical Care Transport Department. Now in its fifth year, the Providian
Relay attracts teams from all over the world and features many teams which
return year after year.
Providian Financial Corporation (http://www.providian.com) is a leading provider
of lending and deposit products to consumers nationwide and in the United
Kingdom. Providian serves a broad, diversified market with loan products that
include credit cards, revolving lines of credit, home loans, secured cards and
fee-based services. With $16 billion in assets under management and
10 million customers, Providian is committed to providing 100% customer
satisfaction. San Francisco-based Providian Financial is one of the ten
largest bankcard issuers in the nation, and in 1998 ranked as the seventh best
performing stock in the S&P 500 and the single best performing stock in the
S&P Financial Composite Index.
For more information about The Providian Relay, please visit The Relay
website at http://www.TheRelay.com or contact Dr. Jeff Shapiro at 650-508-9700.
For more information about Providian Financial, please call Laurie Cole at
415-278-4844.
SOURCE Providian Financial Corp.
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Related links:
http://www.providian.com
CONTACT:
Dr. Jeff Shapiro of Providian Financial
Corp., 650-508-9700
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