The race is on to save lives in Cambridgeshire

Given recent events during the football the importance of CPR and its life-saving impact has never been so prominent. Cambridge’s Chariots of Fire 2021 will proudly support life-saving CPR training through East Anglian Air Ambulance. On September 19th, the race is on to help save lives across Cambridgeshire through this annual charity race.

Wendy Von Niebel of Hewitsons Charitable Trust said: “Chariots of Fire provides an ideal opportunity for local businesses, the college community and the general public to come together, take part and raise much needed funds for a good cause. After Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest the importance of CPR is felt more than ever and we’re pleased to be supporting such a worthwhile and life-saving cause through this year’s race and encourage teams to get signed up if they haven’t already.”

East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) is committed to delivering high-quality training to schools, community groups and workplaces to improve the region’s CPR skills. 80% of cardiac arrests happen in the home therefore EAAA want to train as many people as possible so that when its crews are tasked to a cardiac arrest, that person has a better chance of receiving bystander CPR.

EAAA CPR trainer and Critical Care Paramedic Mark Milsom explains why he set up the EAAA training programme: “In the 28 years I have been a paramedic, the only cardiac arrest survivors that I have been to have had immediate bystander CPR. As about 40% of EAAAs workload is attending cardiac arrests, I felt we needed to do something to improve the education around CPR and defibrillators in our area. This way we are helping to treat our patients before we have even been tasked to them.

“It’s a great feeling when you meet a cardiac arrest survivor and know you played a small part in their survival. The teams taking part in Chariots of Fire this year will be playing a huge part in helping us to deliver more of this vital training. Since starting the training project we have taught about 10,000 people how to start the chain of survival, which includes confidence in using a defibrillator. Once restrictions are lifted we’re keen to get out there and train even more people to help save lives. It is reported that if everyone knew how to deliver CPR, about 1,000 more lives could be saved each year.”

Taking part on Sunday 19 September, Chariots of Fire is the region’s longest running charitable relay race and is organised by Hewitsons Charitable Trust, the charity established and supported by HCR Hewitsons. The race starts and ends on Queens’ Green and follows a picturesque 1.7-mile route through some of Cambridge’s historic city centre and two world renowned Cambridge University Colleges, over the Cam and along the Backs. The baton is then passed on to the next runner at Queens’ Green until all six have completed the course.

To enter a team, go to: www.chariots-of-fire.co.uk/enter-a-team.

To volunteer on the day to help the event run smoothly, please contact Debbie Howland at EAAA: call 07703684599 or email [email protected].