News Archive

To view the Chariots of Fire race results and team placings from Sunday, click on the link below: final_race_results.pdf

Runners felt the heat as they took to the streets of Cambridge under gloriously sunny skies Sunday, to battle it out in the Chariots of Fire charity relay race, held this year in aid of local mental health charity Cam-mind.

The race is based on the famous film which celebrated the exploits of the 1924 British Olympic team, with teams of 6 running the course in relay format. The runners followed in the footsteps of the film, with the course taking in three Cambridge colleges, Kings, Clare and Trinity.

The race is sponsored by leading law firm Hewitsons and backed by media partners, the Cambridge News.

 Charles Hewitson, senior partner of Hewitsons and race director said, “Everyone has turned out to support us today. We’ve got a huge number of people and had great weather.”

“We’ve raised around three quarters of a million pounds in total in the last 18 years and our aim in the next few years is to make it past the one million pound mark. We will only manage that with the help of all our runners and supporters.”

This year the race was started by Michael Marshall, the event’s honorary president. His father, Sir Arthur Marshall, was a member of the 1924 Olympic team upon which the film was based.  Mr Marshall said of the event, “It brings the whole of Cambridge together to support a great charity.”

Aly Anderson, Cam-mind’s development manager was delighted with the support for the charity on the day. “It has helped to raise our profile as a charity and, more importantly, raise the profile of mental health issues in general and get people talking about it – particularly in workplaces.”

Glassworks A team won the Sir Arthur Marshall trophy for the overall fastest team. Team captain, Will Davies, said, “It was really warm running, especially as the legs began to go. For the first runners it was perfect and then it felt hot towards the end. It was such a lovely day and the course was as beautiful as ever.”

A team from John Lewis won the People’s Cup, as they were judged to have entertained the crowd the most on the day. They braved the warm weather and dressed up as waiters to run the course holding a tray with a glass of pink champagne on it.

Charles Hewitsons said, “We would like to encourage teams to raise as much money as possible now for Cam-mind. As an incentive we will award a magnum of champagne to the team who raises the highest amount of sponsorship!”

To view the race timings for each team, click on the link below:

http://www.chariots-of-fire.co.uk/enter/race-times

To view the winning teams from 2009, click on the link below:

http://www.chariots-of-fire.co.uk/history/winning-teams/

With Chariots of Fire just round the corner teams are already turning their thoughts to raising sponsorship for Cam-mind.

Cambridge’s most celebrated charity relay race takes place on Sunday 20 September, starting on Queen’s Green in Cambridge and teams are getting stuck into final race day training preparations.

Each team is expected to raise money and many have already set up JustGiving pages online, which is a quick and easy way to obtain sponsorship. So far 33 pages have been set up for the race and the current frontrunner for the highest amount raised online so far is the Howard Property Group, with two teams entered.

William Jewson, one of the team managers for HPG said, “We have entered 2 teams into the race and have raised around £850 to date through the JustGiving website. The Howard Group has offered to match this amount by up to £1000, so this means we are nearly at the £2,000 mark already for both teams. Our target was £1500, so we have surpassed this before we have even run the race!”

The second highest amount has been raised by Elizabeth Barry, from Barry Harriers, who is running the race with the rest of her family and has raised around £250 to date.

Doug Stanton, from Noyes and Noyes has a target of £1,000 to raise for his team and has raised around £175 to date.

Charles Hewitson, of sponsors Hewitsons said “It is fantastic that so many teams have already started raising sponsorship money and we are impressed by the large target amounts that people are aiming for. The team who raise the highest sponsorship will receive a magnum of champagne…which should be an incentive!”

Aly Anderson, Cam-mind’s Development Manager, said “The sponsorship money raised at Chariots will make a huge difference for us here at Cam-mind and will allow us to develop and expand our projects in the community, supporting local mental health service users.”

“In particular it will be a great funding boost for our one-to-one befriending scheme and our workplace training project, including the exciting new Mental Health First Aid courses which we are already delivering locally.”

If you would like to set up a JustGiving page for your team, visit www.justgiving.com/cammind. Teams have until December 2009 to collect and submit sponsorship money.

The final day for entering a team into the race is Friday 18 September, visit www.chariots-of-fire.co.uk to register your team online. Call Hazel Kraus for further details on 01223 461155 or email hazelkraus@hewitsons.com

If you have entered a team into the event, you can now download the Race Instructions for Chariots of Fire 2009 from the website at the link below:

http://www.chariots-of-fire.co.uk/assets/documents/race-instructions.pdf

This provides you with all the information you should require on the day of the race regarding timings, registration, rules and arrangements for meeting with your team members on the morning.

Should have any further queries please contact Hazel Kraus on 01223 461155 or at hazelkraus@hewitsons.com

The Cambridge University colleges have always been an integral part of the Chariots of Fire event, Cambridge’s largest charity relay race.

The race is inspired by the famous film and in particular the iconic run around Great Trinity Court. The picturesque route takes in the impressive surroundings of King’s, Clare and Trinity colleges.

Charles Hewitson of event sponsors Hewitsons said, “We are very grateful to all three colleges for their continuing support of the event. Each year runners comment that it is such a privilege to be able to run through the beautiful college grounds.”

The event is now in its 18th year and nearly 2500 runners are expected to participate in this year’s race, taking place on Sunday 20 September. The teams of 6 are drawn mainly from the local business and academic communities.

This year there are plenty of college teams entered into the race, including Downing, Fitzwilliam, Kings, Queens’, Pembroke, Churchill, and Wolfson. The teams are a mixture of students and staff members, with Trinity College entering four teams of staff and fellows.

Charles continued, “We are delighted that so many colleges have entered into the race already. The event helps to unite town and gown in Cambridge, bringing together the local academic community with the business community in a unique way.”

The race is being held this year in aid of Cam-mind, a local mental health charity committed to supporting those recovering from conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

“We are so pleased to see so much enthusiasm from college teams in this year’s event,” said Aly Anderson, the Development Manager at Cam-mind. “The sponsorship money raised by the teams at the race will be an enormous boost to Cam-mind and will allow us to progress various projects such as our befriending scheme and our workplace training courses for local employers”

The races starts at 9.30am from Queens’ Green, with team managers required to register their teams from 7.30am in the registration marquee. Race instructions will be sent out to all team managers in early September. There are still team places available, so if you would like to enter, visit www.chariots-of-fire.co.uk. For further information, contact Hazel Kraus at hazelkraus@hewitsons.com or on 01223 461155.