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Greenlight Apparel does its bit for San Francisco Marathon

27 Jul '10
3 min read

More than 150 runners who crossed the finish line of the San Francisco Marathon on Sunday weren't within 7,500 miles of the Golden Gate Bridge. They were part of The Warrior Tours' program “America's Races Salute the Troops,” running a mirror-image race in the Persian Gulf.

Greenlight Apparel, an eco-clothing company with the mission of eradicating child labor worldwide, donated $5,000 worth of support including the official race jerseys for the event, which along with digital timing tags, professional race announcers and Armed Forces Entertainment performers collectively created a side-by-side marathon event in an undisclosed Iraqi location coinciding with the San Francisco race.

“I promised those sailors serving over in the Persian Gulf that Wave 3 would give a big shout out to our men and women participating in the San Francisco Marathon over there,” bellowed race announcer Rob Powers before the several thousand stateside runners assembled for their 5:42 a.m. (PST) start time. Powers has long been the voice of the San Francisco Marathon and is the founder of The Warrior Tours, an organization that brings entertainment fitness activities to US military bases.

Participating in this event was the Marine Corp Security Force assigned to protecting the Al Basrah Oil Terminal (ABOT), Iraq's main oil port and the primary supporter of the country's economy. NATO Lieutenant Commander Lisa Thomsen-Rayner of the Royal Navy led the on-site production of the marathon, one of thirty races paired with popular domestic marathons and coordinated with the military's semi-annul Armed Forces Physical Fitness Test to provide a fun way for troops to fulfil testing requirements.

“Alcatraz has nothing on our ABOT service members and The San Francisco Marathon!” said Powers, “Special thanks to The Warrior Tours and Greenlight Apparel for helping make it happen... in the City by the Bay...and a million miles away!”

“This is a small token of gratitude to the men and women keeping us safe,” said Monika Gill, executive director of Greenlight Apparel. “And on another level, they're also working to stabilize the kind of developing country where child labor could surface. In that way, they're fighting the same fight we are.”

Greenlight Apparel sponsored a similar event in Afghanistan in March of this year. The company has been aggressively targeting large races, seeking to affect a critical problem with a simple solution: to put fair-trade tees on the backs of the estimated 16 million competitive runners who might otherwise be donning sweatshop-crafted garments. It has thus far helped rescue and free over 600 children from forced child labor, avoided over 37,000 sweat shop hours.

Greenlight Apparel is an activist outfitter of active people, producing high-quality casual and technical apparel for large sporting, entertainment and corporate events. Not just “sweatshop free,” our mission is to aggressively work to eradicate illegal child labor and human trafficking. Our company dedicates 10% of each sale to humanitarian partner charities working to expose illegal manufacturing practices, build schools and create awareness of the world child labor crisis. All Greenlight Apparel merchandise is made with 100% recycled or organic fibers.

Greenlight Apparel

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