Last updated: 30/11/2007
'Chariots of Fire' race record broken

Sam Dobin has entered the history books, becoming only the second person ever to complete the legendary Great Court Run at Trinity College, Cambridge.

The race was made famous when it was depicted in the film Chariots of Fire. Sam Dobin is the first person to officially beat the clock in eighty years.

The race is an annual tradition; attempted by freshers on the day of the Matriculation Dinner when new students are formally admitted to the university, which this year was on October 20. The record breaker, an 800 and 1500 metre runner from Herne Bay in Kent, had only recently resumed training after injury.

The Trinity Great Court Run, formed a key scene within Chariots of Fire and has defeated many top athletes. Competitors aim to sprint around the court - a distance of 367 metres - in the 43 seconds it takes the college’s clock to perform its midday chimes. Sam Dobin set a new record for the race coming in at 42.77 seconds.

In the famous film recreation of the dash, which was actually shot at Eton College, the character of Harold Abrahams (played by Ben Cross) beats Lord Andrew Lindsay (Nigel Havers). Havers’ character is loosely based on Olympic athlete Lord Burghley who in real life is the only other man to have undisputedly completed the historic race within the time limit crossing the line at 43.1 seconds in 1927.

Sam Dobin, the new record holder, said his ‘weird’ achievement had inspired him to try for a place in the 2012 Olympics. The 19-year-old economics student said: “It was an amazing feeling. I can’t believe I’ve actually set the record for it. The only two people who have done it before are Olympics champions. It was just really, really weird.”

Sebastian Coe’s name has also been connected to the race having beaten Steve Cram in a charity challenge sprint around the court on October 29, 1988. Whilst he had been credited as running a fast enough time (42.53 seconds) on that occasion his attempt is not formally recognised by Trinity College. The race that day is said to have only covered three corners of the court and the chimes rang faster than usual as the clock had recently been wound.

Lord Coe, chairman of the London 2012 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and a vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, congratulated Mr Dobin, saying that finishing the race before the final chime was a “fantastic and very rare achievement”.
Sam Dobin, was stunned by his success; “It’s really surreal, I don’t know how it happened. I’ve only been training for five weeks. The night before, I trained really hard - then I went to a college party, but I couldn’t bear the music so I left really early and went to bed.”

“I was hobbling about on my bad ankle. The athletics captain phoned me and told me not to run because the cobblestones on the square aren’t good for my ankle, and I agreed.”

“But then I thought, ‘Should I? Shouldn’t I?’ So I called my best friend, and he said, ‘Sam, you’re in really great shape, do it’.”

“When I got to the line, I started regretting it completely. It was all silent, there were lots of people watching, it was amazing. Maybe I was just inspired.”

Dobin, who has restarted his first year, having been forced by illness, including a running injury, to miss some time at Cambridge, has strong prospects if previous Great Court Run champions are anything to go by. Lord Coe and Lord Burghley both won Olympic gold medals; both chaired Olympic organising committees; and both became Members of both Houses of Parliament.

Dobin has also shown keen political aspirations having visited 10 Downing Street after being voted Youth Prime Minister in a debating competition organised last year by the National Youth Parliament.

The record breaking achievement was described by Professor Kevin Gray, Dean of Trinity College, as “a truly tremendous achievement and a rare moment in Trinity’s history”.

Other runners that day, taking part just for fun, wore costumes and completed the race ‘three-legged’ with one pair running dressed as a pantomime horse.

Home camera footage taken during the race can be found at Cambridge university’s website.

Read about another ground-breaking feat of human acheivement from matriculation