Team Meridiam limbers up

On October 31, Meridiam’s Thierry Deau (official trainer, captain and event patron), Olivier Garnier, John Dionisio, Jean-Francois Marco and Parviz Madjedi will join forces with Matthias Benz and Michael Winkler from Deutsche Bank under the ‘Team Meridiam’ banner to run the Marathon of Marathons – a historic run from Marathon to Athens being undertaken by 250 members of the private equity and infrastructure communities to raise €2.5 million to help children around the world (see www.marathonofmarathons.org).

PEI Media recently caught up with Deau to see how preparations are coming along. 

You’re fielding a whole team of runners. What made you embrace the MoM so firmly?

TD: We try as an organisation to support charitable efforts as much as possible. There is no greater cause then helping the less fortunate children of this world. Kudos to John Campbell and the Campell Lutyens team for spearheading such a cause.

Are all of you seasoned long-distance runners? Any novices in the line-up?

TD: We extended the opportunity to participate in this great event to everyone in our organisation. Therefore we've attracted participants of all different shapes, sizes, and physical abilities to run (or walk) the marathon. The goal for us is to raise as much money as possible with the help of our team’s network. That said, we have some secret weapons in the group who will compete at the highest of levels including two close friends / colleagues from Deutsche Bank infrastructure advisory group.

How is your training going? Are you receiving expert coaching? What’s the greatest difficulty any of you have had to overcome so far?

TD: Speaking for myself, the obvious hurdle has been finding the time amongst a very busy schedule to train. That said, I'm doing my best to oil up the joints. The others have been successful in adopting more regimented training schemes…maybe they need some more work to do…

You must be travelling a lot. What’s the most exotic location any of you have trained in?

TD: Training in Italy was marvelous!

Do you have any fundraising tips for other MoM participants?

TD: We've adopted a joint approach to tap into our professional contacts from multiple angles. We also hope that our families and friends will duly support the cause. This noble cause sells itself so hopefully we'll achieve success for the charity!

What time will your fastest runner be going for?

TD: We have runners who run marathons as a pastime, so we expect great results…