Polly Keen
When one thinks of the words
“Chariots of Fire”, that infamous music and slow motion dodgy running
styles come to mind. The annual charity event in Cambridge never
fails to encompass these themes and 2009, the 6 x 2.7 km relay race’s
18th staging, was no exception.
Following too much inane banter
from the announcer for that hour of the morning and a Mr Motivator style
warm-up, the race was started to that legendary musical score.
Tom Heslop and Polly Keen initiated the running for the Hare and Hounds,
battling well amongst the masses. Tom, continuing his fine form,
handed the baton over in 2nd place behind Glassworks Gym
(who seem to be establishing themselves as the favourites for future
years thanks to their collaboration with St Mary’s University College
international athletes). Polly was clear as first female home giving
the CUH&H ladies a promising start.
The race continued with, a
bit boringly from a reporter’s point of view, the rest of both the
male and female Cambridge teams holding their respective positions in
2nd and 1st for the entirety of the race.
The remainder of the men’s
team was as follows: new Club Captain, Robin Brown; Andy Collier; Liam
Richardson (who managed to get a mention from the announcer thanks to
the impressively pained look on his face &emdash; probably at the thought
of having to run the course again for the Jesus college team); Will
Mackay and Jamie Brunning. They came home solidly in 2nd
place in a very decent time of 52:17.
New Women’s Captain, Emma
Figures, bounded around the course second for the ladies, with her customary
smile on her face, to hand over to our newest American import, Amanda
Scott, who looks to become an extremely valuable member of the team.
Amanda passed the baton onto her US counterpart, Emily Alden, who in
turn handed over to Cat Bounds. Anna Anderson finally took up
the last leg to bring the women’s team home victorious in a time of
62:59, nearly 10 mins ahead of the next ladies’ team and as 11th
team overall. The results and times posted by both teams look
extremely promising for the upcoming term.
Other Hare and Hounds spotted
running for various other teams included Senior Treasurer Neil Mathur,
Hannah Brice and Phil Scard.
When the final team had finished
“running” in over 2 hours, it was finally time for the presentations
by the son of 1924 Olympian and Jesus College graduate, Sir Arthur Marshall,
Michael. Highlights of the presentation included blatant perving
on the women’s team by the presenter (“You’re all very nice and
young, aren’t you?”) and the fact that the men’s team got trophies
for being fastest male team as well as being 2nd overall
despite the fact that the Glasswork’s team was obviously male (or
hid it extremely well!).
And so, another successful
Chariots of Fire relays was over and it was time for many of the CUH&H
runners to head off to the land of Daffodils and sheep for a whole week
of Harey revelry; September training camp awaited…
Results
(6 x 2.7km)
Men
1 The Glassworks A 00:48:40
2 Cambridge University Hare and Hounds Men 00:52:17
3 Giulio 00:53:35
Women
1 Cambridge University Hare and Hounds Ladies 01:02:59
2 Newmarket Fillies 01:12:01
3 Cantab Hash Fine Wines 01:16:03