Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/881840
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2017 Events 48 Malta's fastest 5k race is here! LOCAL established runners as well as beginners have a unique opportunity to crush their cur- rent 5k Personal Best, in Malta's all-new Fastest 5k Road Race. Following a significant increase in the awareness of the short and long term benefits of distance running, we have seen athletes take an active interest in our sport, with athletes pushing themselves towards new heights. This has created a bigger demand for faster routes that push athletes below new time thresholds, the Fastest5 in Malta has been launched by Raptorz Running Club. This event will be held on Sunday 15 October at 7:30am and is capped for 250 athletes. Club founder and president Dar- ren Vandit claimed that the "Fast- est5 is to-date Malta's 'Flattest & Fastest' 5k race with only 14 me- ters of elevation gain throughout the whole course. This is expected to generate excitement between elite athletes to give their utmost with the aim of achieving their lifetime 5k personal best. Fastest5 is open for all, elites and running enthusiasts alike. The race will in- clude many surprises for all those taking part!" Fastest5 shall start in front of Teamsport Birkirkara and will end with a 600m loop around the St Aloysius' College track, a truly Olympic style finish! Fastest5 is proudly supported by Teamsport, Diadora, Jesmond Mizzi Financial Advisors, Garmin Malta, Trusty Funds, Sign Sys- tems and Nutrition Empire. For further information about Raptorz Running Club, visit their Facebook page on www.facebook. com/raptorz/run. To view/register for Fastest5 you may do so by log- ging on www.fastest5.run. Responsible Gaming Conference 2017 triples in size to over 270 delegates KINDRED Group together with the Foundation for Social Welfare Services hosted the Responsible Gaming Conference 2017 last month for the second consecutive year with a sold-out Interconti- nental Malta venue packed with over 270 delegates who came to hear experts from various fields openly discuss responsible gam- ing. The conference was opened by Alfred Grixti, Foundation for Social Welfare Service CEO, fol- lowed by Henrik Tjärnström, Kindred Group CEO, who em- phasised the role of data in under- standing betting behaviour and the need for enlightened gaming companies to immerse in stake- holder consultation to ensure that the support is in place for player safety. "Responsible gaming is an area we consider a key building block in our sustainable business strategy and therefore a topic we will continue to drive" he said. The Conference was also ad- dressed by Silvio Schembri, Par- liamentary Secretary for Finan- cial Affairs, Digital Economy and Innovation within the Office of the Prime Minister who said that the gaming industry was now worth upwards of €1.2 billion to the Maltese economy and sup- ported more than 9,000 jobs. He said that the Maltese Gov- ernment was investing heavily in responsible gaming and would be utilising €1 million of European Social Funds to treat local gam- bling addicts. Michael Falzon, Minister for Social Policy, congratulated Kin- dred Group on their support for Sedqa and for their responsible attitude towards gaming. Keynote speaker Professor Mark Griffiths from Nottingham Trent University who has been collaborating with the Kindred Group on research into problem gaming, gave an address in which he shared the results of 30 years research. Amongst the highlights were his analysis of the structural charac- teristics impacting on gambling and gamblers and his thesis that to minimise harm when it comes to gambling the two most impor- tant structural characteristics were accessibility and event fre- quency. Lively parallel sessions featured academics, researchers, gaming operators, psychologists, regula- tors, authorities and treatment agencies split into two streams, one for the gaming industry and the other focused on treatment. In what was one of the most moving sections of the entire conference, four former gambling addicts, John Hartson, Justyn Larcombe, Frankie Graham and Ian Semmel, were joined by Uni- versity of Malta psychological counsellor Paul Sciberras, as they recounted some of their experi- ences as problem gamblers as well as sharing insights and practical points-of-view on their recovery process. The conference was closed by Ewout Keuleers, General Coun- sel at Kindred Group who stated that problem gamblers were not good customers and that Kindred Group's values were consistent only with sustainable consump- tion. He said that companies had a duty of care to customers to prevent problem gambling and to educate and create awareness. Furthermore he stressed that there was joint responsibility for operators and NGOs in opening dialogue on fact-based problem- gambling and to use technology and innovation to prevent harm. "Player safety has to be in the DNA, part of the organisation's values and embedded throughout the business to create a safer and more sustainable environment for customers and the industry," he said. For further information visit www.rgcmalta.com where the live stream is available. The Respon- sible Gaming Foundation was a partner of this year's Responsible Gaming Conference. Emirates wins Best Entertainment award at 2017 APEX Passenger Choice Awards EMIRATES clinched the Pas- senger Choice award for Best Entertainment at the 2017 APEX Passenger Choice Awards held in Long Beach, California, USA this week. Emirates' president, Sir Tim Clark, was honoured with the CEO Lifetime Achievement Award. The airline also won Best Origi- nal Video for its Welcome to Ice product video and was given a five-star Global Airline official airline rating, the highest rating in the first airline rating program based solely on verified and certi- fied passenger feedback. Emirates has been at the fore- front of innovation with its in- flight entertainment system, ice. It was the first airline to install in-seat personal screens in every class of service 25 years ago and continues to enhance its product for a superior inflight experience. Today, ice features over 2,500 channels of entertainment, in- cluding the latest movies from around the world in over 30 lan- guages, numerous award-winning TV box sets, a huge music collec- tion and over 100 games. In the last year, over 10% more entertainment has been added including more varied content giving customers more choices than ever. Emirates has invested heavily in connectivity and Live TV on board – today 138 aircraft offer Live TV, including 18 A380s. Wi-Fi con- nectivity is available on 90% of the fleet with more being upgraded each month. Emirates offers cus- tomers across all classes 20MB of free Wi-Fi data and each month over 800,000 passengers connect while inflight. As part of its recent expansion of the Wi-Fi offering on board, Emirates Skywards members en- joy special benefits depending on membership tier and class of travel. SITAONAIR, which de- livers the personalized inflight connectivity experience onboard Emirates, was awarded Best Per- sonalization Innovation at the APEX awards. The Passenger Choice Awards, created by the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX), invites air travellers from around the world to rate their recent in- flight experiences. More than 500,000 flights were rated by pas- sengers from around the world between 24 October 2016 and 31 July 2017 culminating in this year's awards. Emirates operates daily sched- uled flights between Malta and Dubai via Larnaca, Cyprus, on a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The airline won Best Original Video for its Welcome to ice product video and was given a Five-Star Global Airline Official Airline Rating RGC2017 held at InterContinental Malta attracted over 270 delegates to discuss responsible gaming