SINGAPORE, December 1 /PRNewswire/ -- China's Teng Ma and Xiao-yan Guo will line up for the second leg of The Greatest Race on Earth 2008/09 (GROE) in Singapore on Sunday 7th December looking to build upon the strong start made by the Chinese men's and women's teams in Nairobi last month.

The leading international marathon relay series, which is sponsored by Standard Chartered, sees teams of runners compete in one of four marathons, with the winning teams being the ones with the quickest cumulative times at the end of the series.

On January 18th 2009 Shuai Yuan and Xin Zhang will take up the baton in Mumbai for the men's and women's team respectively, before handing it over to Meng Li and Feng-xia Yang in Hong Kong on 8th February 2009.

Lulu Li put China's women's team at the head of the standings for the North East Asia and Rest of the World division, after finishing 13th overall in the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon in 2 hours 52 minutes 57 seconds.

Shou-quan Wang crossed the finish line just four seconds ahead of Lulu Li, putting the Chinese men's team into fourth place in the North East Asia and Rest of the World division.

GROE has for the first time this series partnered with Seeing is Believing, the global initiative which tackles avoidable blindness and is a partnership between Standard Chartered and the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB).

Seeing is Believing will directly benefit from the race series with runners being encouraged to use their participation to raise sponsorship and awareness for the initiative.

Also taking part in the series will be a Visually Impaired All-Stars team, including recent Paralympic marathon gold medallist Qi Shun from China, who will run in Mumbai to raise awareness and funds for Seeing is Believing.

Footage from Singapore, including interviews with the Chinese athletes will be broadcasted copyright free via the APTN Global Video Wire:

Sunday 7th December 2008 0915-0930 GMT REPLAY Sunday 7th December 2008 1215-1230 GMT Broadcast quality footage is also available for download from the multimedia gallery on: http://www.thegreatestraceonearth.com

Selina Vanier + Eduardo Castaneda, World Television Media Relations Team, +44-207-3888555, e-mail: mediarelations@world-television.com