This year's trophy was named after Frenchman Coubertin to celebrate the birth of the founder of the modern Olympic Movement.

Each year since 1985, the IOC has launched a trophy with a different theme based on current trends.

This trophy is made available to each National Olympic Committee (NOC) which is responsible for identifying and selecting a worthy recipient including organisations, clubs, institutes, businesses, sponsors, people, coaches, athletes, researchers, historians or academics who have promoted Olympism in the long-term in their work or service and who have left a legacy.

The Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (FASANOC) selected Save the Children for the 2013 award for its work promoting educational development of children and advancing children's rights in the Pacific Island.

Save the Children Fiji (SC Fiji) was established in 1972 and is an affiliation of Save the Children International (SCI) which has 29 members working together to improve children's lives in over 120 countries.

In October 2013, SC Fiji joined their international counterparts to organise the Save the Children International Race for Survival Day with the theme being "Grow healthy food, nurture healthy children."

Pupils from the Blue Navesi Primary School celebrate their win in the SCF International Race for Survival Day Relay ©FASANOC



SC Fiji in partnership with the Suva Primary Schools Athletics Association (SPSAA) organised the fun day event that had six primary schools, celebrities, media personalities and Save the Children staff at the ANZ Stadium on Wednesday October 23.

In total, 72 participants ran in the 1,500 metre relay race with close to 1000 children and parents cheering them on.

As well as aiming to tie in with the Olympic values of friendship, respect and excellence, the survival race event aimed to highlight a number of themes and issues in Fiji.

These included an Advocacy Workshop where nutritional messages were conceptualised and developed into three key posters with the central theme; "I am real person, feed me real food".

The posters were then presented to Dr Joseph Kado, head of Department of Paediatrics at the Colonial War Museum Hospital with the aim of engaging young people in policy dialogue sessions with Government personnel in 2014.

IOC Member Dr Robin Mitchell presents the IOC Trophy to SC Fiji chief executive Raijeli Nicole ©FASANOC



SC Fiji is looking at building on this platform and developing the annual race for survival concept for young children in Fiji in the coming years.

The IOC approved the nomination which was presented by Dr Robin Mitchell, IOC Member in Fiji to Raijeli Nicole, chief executive officer of SC Fiji.

The event was celebrated world-wide and the Fiji participants competed with over 50,000 children from over 100 countries running in relay teams aiming to break the world marathon record.

As the centrepiece for Save the Children's Global Day of Action for Child Survival, the race aimed to raise awareness about the millions of children under-five dying from preventable causes every year.

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