By Mary Beth Ginder, AREVA Inc.
AREVA North American representatives at the international Meeting AREVA track & field competition in Paris, France.
In the fervor leading up to the 2012 Summer Olympics, AREVA is busy getting in on the action – at least in the track & field arena. Since late 2009, AREVA has sponsored the French Athletics Federation and the French Track & Field Team, a sponsorship that culminates each year at the “Meeting AREVA,” an international track meet held in Paris’ Stade de France.
As in years past, the Meeting AREVA 2012 was a source of excitement for the world-class athletes and the audience. Seventeen AREVA employees from the U.S. and Canada won tickets in an internal AREVA contest to attend the event on July 6 and cheered as athletes vaulted, jumped and sprinted to victory. Several Olympic-medal hopefuls were in attendance on Friday, including Australia’s Sally Pearson winning the women’s 100-meter hurdles, USA’s Tyson Gay sprinting to victory in the men’s 100-meter hurdles, and France’s Renaud Lavillenie, who cleared the pole vault at 5.77 meters.
Even though the Meeting AREVA is hosted in Paris, AREVA’s athletic sponsorships extend beyond French borders and Olympic-level sprinters. Here in North America, AREVA employees stay healthy and energized through participation in local running races scheduled near our many sites. For every mile run or walked by AREVA employees, the AREVA Foundation donates money to regional charities fighting illiteracy. In the U.S. and Canada, our employees run and walk to raise money for Reach Out and Read and the Saskatchewan Literacy Network, respectively.
This year our AREVA North America employees ran a combined 40,000 miles (66,000km), which will result in financial donations to both literacy charities—a victory for everyone involved.