Teams starting sponsorship race for Chariots of Fire 2009

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