WHO/WHAT

TigerDirect, a subsidiary of Systemax, has announced it will bring its popular Build Your Own PC Race For Charity to Raleigh on May 18, 2013. In partnership with Lenovo, the world’s second-largest PC vendor, a special race will be held for the Kramden Institute, a non-profit organization providing PCs to economically disadvantaged students. Kramden Volunteers will be given the opportunity to compete for an all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas during the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show to partake in the National Consumer Finals.

Now in its 16th-year and known as a true “geek sport,” the builds themselves are short, sweet and full of excitement. For the special race, in addition to the trip to Vegas, the racer who assembles a Lenovo Gaming PC from its basic component level in the fastest time will receive a Horizon Table PC, in addition to a $500 gift card and $500 donation to the Kramden Institute. Second place will be awarded with an IdeaPad Yoga 13, $250 gift card and $250 donation to Kramden. Third Place will win a K3 Lynx Tablet with Keyboard, $100 gift card and $100 donation to Kramden.

“When Lenovo came to us with the idea to host a dedicated race for Kramden Institute, we couldn’t have been more excited about the opportunity,” says Lonny R. Paul, VP of Marketing and Strategic Initiatives for TigerDirect.com. “The hard work and effort that the Kramden volunteers have put into refurbishing computers has resulted in the donation of over 12,000 PCs to worthy students, impacting over 48,000 persons across the state of North Carolina. We are proud to be able to give back in such a fun and meaningful capacity, and look forward to working together again in the future.”

Since its inception in 1997, TigerDirect’s PC Race has been hailed as one of the most exciting events during the Consumer Electronics Show and until 2012 was only available to journalists. Last year, when TigerDirect opened the races to the public, they received an overwhelming response from consumers and tech enthusiasts who were interested in competing and attending the events.

With the help of Lenovo’s sponsorship and due to the popular demand, TigerDirect has increased the number of racers per region from 10 to 20 and the number of cities from 5 to 15. At each race, in addition to the trip to Vegas for the first place finisher, TigerDirect makes a monetary donation to the top three placers in each race’s charity of choice and all the finished PCs are donated at the end of the series. The Build Your Own PC Race has supported an array of charities with millions in donations, including cash and hardware.

TigerDirect will hold regional competitions in the following markets: Miami, FL; Orlando, FL; Etobicoke, ON; Fort Myers, FL; Chicago, IL; Jefferson, GA; Dallas, TX; Los Angeles, CA; Jacksonville, FL; Christiana, DE; Tampa, FL; Raleigh, NC; San Francisco, CA and Seattle, WA.

A video of last year’s regional race can be seen at http://goo.gl/ckRDd.

For more information or to sign up for the race, visit http://www.charitypcrace.com (Please note only Kramden Volunteers are eligible to race in the Kramden race.) .

WHEN/WHERE

The Race:
May 18, 2013 | 3pm (regional race), 4pm (Kramden race)
TigerDirect.com Retail Store
3131 Capital Blvd. | Raleigh, NC 27604

About TigerDirect
For over 20 years, TigerDirect (http://www.tigerdirect.com) has served the needs of both personal and business computer users, selling consumer electronics, computers, digital media technology and peripherals via catalog, business to business, and Internet channels. TigerDirect is a subsidiary of Systemax Inc..

About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY), the world¹s second-largest PC vendor, is a $US30 billion personal technology company serving customers in more than 160 countries. Dedicated to building exceptionally engineered PCs and mobile Internet devices, Lenovo¹s business is built on product innovation, a highly-efficient global supply chain and strong strategic execution. Formed by Lenovo Group¹s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services. Its product lines include legendary Think-branded commercial PCs and Idea-branded consumer PCs, as well as servers, workstations, and a family of mobile Internet devices, including tablets and smart phones. Lenovo has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information see www.lenovo.com.’

About Kramden Institute
Kramden Institute Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to empowering hardworking, yet economically disadvantaged, students to cross the digital divide. This is done by awarding thousands of PCs to students to be used to advance their academic and personal achievements. Kramden collects donated PCs, laptops, and peripherals; refurbishes the equipment; and awards the computers, thereby extending the useful life of electronics and reducing e-waste. For more information, go to http://www.kramden.org .

MEDIA CONTACTS
For interview requests with TigerDirect leadership, to attend and for all press matters please contact:
The Workshop
Lorelle Kahn | Lorelle@workshopcollective.com | 305.458.0940
Megan Pope | Megan@workshopcollective.com | 323.397.5667

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While record times were not broken at the event, it was a heated race with lots of changes to the build, resulting in extended race times. Once the race was over, penalties were assessed and some even disqualified for breaking components in the system.

Chicago Regional Race Results

• 1st Place: Ramsin Gabriel with a time of 5:42
  Charity: National Association for the Deaf ($500 donation)

• 2nd Place: Ben Kirkland with a time of 7:41
  Charity: Supply Hope ($250 donation)

• 3rd Place: Bryan Gorski with a time of 8:58
  Charity: Salvation Army ($100 donation)

Ramsin Gabriel will be on his way once again to the National Consumer Finals in Las Vegas in January 2014. Congrats to the winners and to all participants who went home with an exclusive limited-edition 2014 Race Series Backpack stuffed full of schwag!

Photos gallery can be viewed here.

Today the TigerDirect team is busy preparing for the race – putting together exclusive Racer schwag bags complete with the highly sought after TigerDirect t-shirts and other items from contributing sponsors. If you are a Yelper, then you already know tonight is the Yelp Elemental Experience at the Castle Nightclub – and TigerDirect will be on hand with tons of the latest in Windows 8 technology powered by Intel. Their guest list is already full, so I hope you were able to get one of the 2500 spots for tonight’s attendees.

While the signup for racers is full, there are always no-shows – and you can fill their spot by being on hand. Be sure to signup for the “standby list” when you enter the store. Racers must be present by 2:30 in order to secure their racing position, as well as standy-by attendees. The race will start at 3PM and we look forward to seeing you there!