Team Gaunt Success at Chariots of Fire Race for Charity

The Chariots of Fire race is an annual event in Cambridge to raise money for good causes. The race was inspired by the film of the same name, which told the story of Olympic gold medallists Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddle. The race is a relay and consists of a circuit of 1.75 miles through the grounds of several Cambridge Colleges including Trinity and King’s. Each runner completes a circuit and each team consists of six runners.

This year over 150 teams took part and it was a pleasure to co-sponsor three teams with the owner of designer clothes shop Giulio. Our veterans team won the veterans’ event and our elite men’s team, skippered by ex-patient of mine, Ian Williamson, came second overall – beaten only by a team containing Olympic athletes!! So congratulations to all who took part. The photograph shows me with the elite men’s team showing off the Michael Gaunt logo on the back of their vests – which obviously a lot of the other runners got a good view of as they sped past.

In addition to cheering home the Giulio-Gaunt team it was a great occasion to meet up with friends, colleagues and patients past and present. It was nice to meet up with Dr Pixie McKenna, from the popular TV health programme ‘Embarrassing Bodies’, who was there to present the prizes. Also, it was a pleasure to be asked to be the unofficial photographer to the Great Dames team – a team of real-life Dames from the House of Lords, skippered by Cambridge’s very own Dame Mary Archer. It really was a great day, great fun and a lot of money raised for good causes.

The Great Dames team included:

• Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College.
• Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones DCMG, former chair of the British Joint Intelligence Committee.
• Dame Gill Morgan, chair of NHS Providers, former Permanent Secretary to the NHS in Wales, former CEO of the NHS Confederation.
• Dame Fiona Woolf, former Lord Mayor of London, trustee of the Science Museum Group.
• Dame Barbara Stocking, President of Murray Edwards College, former CEO of Oxfam.
• Dame Mary Archer, chair of the Science Museum Group, former chair of Cambridge University Hospitals.

23rd Chariots of Fire Race, Cambridge

On Sunday September 21st I joined up with Giulio Cinque of Giulio’s Fashions in Cambridge to sponsor a team of 6 runners in the 23rd annual Chariots of Fire Race. Inspired by the 1981 film, the race passes through several of Cambridge’s historic colleges. This year the event supported the Arthur Rank Hospice and 361 teams took part. It was really exciting to be part of such an iconic race, raising funds for such a wonderful charity. It was a very closely fought race, with our team ahead for the first three laps, but in the end the team came second, only 5 seconds behind the winners, a team from Glassworks Gym. We are already looking forward to next year’s race!

Research Advisory Committee meeting at Addenbrookes

I attended the Research Advisory Committee meeting at Addenbrookes (Cambridge University Hospitals NHSFT). This body is responsible for funding and monitoring research carried out at the hospital.

Bateman Feast at Trinity Hall College

I attended the annual Bateman Feast at Trinity Hall College to commemorate the founding of the college by Bishop Bateman of Norwich in 1350. One of the privileges of working in Cambridge and being a member of the university is the opportunity to attend such splendid events and meet leading figures from the worlds of medicine, science, economics, politics and the arts. Conversations range from the latest scientific advances in one of Cambridge's Nobel Prize winning laboratories to the euro crisis with one of the world's leading economists. A truly inspiring event and my thanks to the Master and Fellows of the college for their kind invitation.