George Washington University takes the malaria lead.

The organizers of the Madness Against Malaria Charity Tournament www.madnessagainstmalaria.com congratulate George Washington University for leading the tournament at the end of the first week. GW's malaria madness team is headed by Chris Beatty, who was one of the Student co-Founders of the International Fast Against Malaria.

Lance Laifer, co-Founder of Madness Against Malaria, thanked Chris and his teamamates -
Michelle Beatty, Adam Levine, Heather Shelby, Bethany Remely, Courtney Dworkin, Justin Savage, Jeff Guertin, Shauna Smith, Dan Fellman, Andrew Merten, Alli Darrow, Sheena Patel, Sunjay Jacob-Mathews, Lauren Deputter, Greg Kershaw, Stacie Jacoby, Jenn Lore, Meredith Hotarek, Jason Zimmerman, Alex Altimas, Theresa Lamontagne, Laura Brigham, Susanna Brown, Mike Amoroso, Jarod Marsahll, Alex Greer, Omar Griffin - for their attentive and responsive call to action in the tournament's first week. "Chris and his teammates are a credit to students all over the world but especially to GW," said Mr. Laifer. "Even during the first week of classes when most students are spending their time trying to figure out which classes to take and which roommates they should keep, Chris and his teammates sacrificed their time and effort to register one of the first teams in this worldwide tournament because they know that their efforts can directly save the lives of children all over Africa." To help Chris and his GW teammates fight malaria visit the GW Malaria page at www.MadnessAgainstMalaria.com/GW

The GW team highlights these quick facts about malaria:

-The number of children that will die today from malaria would fill 7 jumbo jets

-Malaria is the world's single largest killer of children

-Malaria is preventable and treatable

-The single most effective means of prevention is a US$5 mosquito net

-of the 1 to 3 million people that die each year, 70% are children under 5.


The GW team urges their fellow students "to forget those 2 slices at Pizza I at 4am and help a kid," stressing, "You'll feel alot better in the morning."

About Madness Against Malaria

Madness Against Malaria is a fun, international online competition to identify the team that is best at raising funds to buy long-lasting insecticidal (mosquito) nets (LLINs) to help in the fight against malaria. The aim is to involve people all over the world. A team is any group willing to band together to raise funds. It could be a school, a group of friends, religious group, science class, volunteer group, company, work colleagues, sports club, family. Each team will try to get others to donate money to the cause at their team page. The aim will be to win the Malaria Cup by raising enough money to be the last team standing.

The "regular season" for the Madness Against Malaria Tournament will last from September 2006 until February 2007. Teams set up a sponsorship page online and raise money. Teams can start raising money whenever they like during this period. The top 64 teams by funds raised at the end of February go through to a week-to-week single elimination tournament over six weeks until one team is crowned as the champion. Throughout all phases of the tournament, 100% of funds raised will be used to buy long-lasting insecticidal nets and save lives.

March 1 - 11 - The Tournament begins. The top 64 teams are paired off
and ‘compete’ knock-out style against each other. By March 12, 32
teams remain.

March 12 - 18 - The 32 teams compete against each other and 16 teams remain

March 19 - 25 - Sweet Sixteen single elimination round.

March 26 - April 1 - Elite Eight single elimination round.

April 2 - 8 - Final Four single elimination round.

April 9-15 - Championship Week - single elimination round, winner is announced


There might be some interesting pairings during the Tournament’s single elimination phase. A large multi-national corporation might play against a school of 700 children in Saudi Arabia; a basketball team in Milwaukee against a Rotary club in Australia; a few people in the office of a multinational in Nairobi might be paired against a group of malaria researchers in Switzerland. Teams can be any number of people, from anywhere.

Strategy, timing and tactics will be important. Teams will need to be strategic in their fundraising because it is not a cumulative contest. Money raised does not carry over from the regular season to the elimination round and money raised in each week of the elimination round does not carry over to the next week. To win, a team will need to
finish in the top 64 teams at the end of February, but then that team is paired against another team in the first round of the knock out phase and both start from $0. The team in each pairing raising the most money over the next week, progresses. Each team’s total is then reset to $0 (again). For each of the other final elimination rounds the totals are, likewise, set back to zero.

Teams will need to be smart. If a team finishes at top of the pile at the end of February but is ‘beaten’ in the first knock out round, that team is out.

There is no limit to the number of people you can co-opt into your team at any time. Particularly during March, that may be important…

Will it be a school, a company, a foundation, or a ten year old child that manages to rally everyone in the world around her? Your guess is as good as ours.

To register your team and get started click here www.madnessagainstmalaria.com

Contact: Lance Laifer 203-899-0657
email - vs.malaria@gmail.com