The Estimates media circus may have been raging across the road in Government Buildings but, for the Rehab charity, yesterday's real action came at an intimate reception in Dublin's Merrion Hotel.

As Brian Cowen concentrated on telling us life was good, a select group of the city's finest fund managers were facing each other as they prepared for their annual battle: the Rehab Great Investment Race.

This year, the charity investment contest has attracted six players: AIB Investment Managers, Bank of Ireland Asset Management, Hibernian Investment Managers, Irish Life Investment Managers, Oppenheim Investment Managers and Setanta Asset Management.

All of the firms have participated in the race before but, as the competition enters its fourth year, the player to catch is Chris Reilly of Bank of Ireland Asset Management, who came out on top for the past two years running.

Frank Flannery, Rehab chief executive, described the managers' collective effort as "a different kind of fund-raising". He pointed out that, by entering, the competitors are putting themselves through a very public test.

Mr Flannery reminded them, however, that their efforts have raised more than €500,000 for Rehab's autism services over the past three years. These services include respite, from residential care to simple after-school care for autistic children.

As always, the race will be covered each month in the business pages of The Irish Times.

Officially launching the contest, TV and radio presenter Ryan Tubridy promised that the race would not only make him open the business pages from now on, but it would also encourage him to read them.

The race begins on Monday.