Galactico of Denmark Maintains Malaria Lead

Galactico of Denmark maintained control of first place during week 13 of the Madness Against Malaria fun(draising) tournament. The team located in Kolding, Denmark writes:

"We are a small passionate office based in the heart of Denmark who all really believes in this fantastic project/initiative and we are doing everything we can in order to make people aware of the need of mosquito nets in various parts of the world. So please make your donation with us…"

To support Team Galactico and it’s team members (Henriette Lauridsen, Helle Lorentzen, Pia Ellegård, Torben Vestergaard, Rasmus Laursen) visit www.MadnessAgainstMalaria.com/Galactico

Participation is now 70 teams involving 807 people in 29 countries and the total raised is more than US$28,000, which will be used to purchase close to 5,700 bednets.

The Dream Team - His Nets made the most impressive debut during the week and is now in 12th place.
The Dream Team is made up of friends of His Nets, a non-profit that raises money for and distributes insecticide treated mosquito nets in Africa. Visit the dream team at www.MadnessAgainstMalaria.com/DreamTeam


The top 10 teams currently are: Galactico of Denmark, Molfetta Against Malaria of Italy, Six Degrees of Tilson of Kenya, Malaria Atlas Project of Kenya, Nepal-Covered of Nepal, Emory Against Anopheles of Atlanta, George Washington University of Washington DC, Team Cameroon of Cameroon, Fulham Flappers of England, and Africa Fighting Malaria of Washington, DC. For a complete listing of the top teams click here
http://www.madnessagainstmalaria.com/en/Teams_Top64.aspx


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. 100% of the money raised will buy long lasting insecticidal mosquito nets. Madness Against Malaria is an initiative of the World Swim For Malaria Foundation (WSMF), a charity registered in the UK, US, Australia and a number of other countries.

WSMF launched and ran World Swim For Malaria (WSM) on 3rd Dec 2005 in which more than 250,000 people swam and fund raised. 100% of the US$1.3m raised purchased 270,000 long lasting insecticidal nets

(LLINs) which are now being distributed to protect 540,000 (mainly) children from biting insects when they sleep at night.

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