Bay Boy Beats Bells

Chariots of Fire was a great film in its time, and one of the pivotal scenes was the Trinity College's Great Court run. The race requires participants to run round the 367-metre perimeter of the Great Court's narrow flagstone path before all 24 chimes of the Cambridge college's clock have rung at Midday.

Second-year economics undergraduate Sam Dobin finished the sprint in 42.77 seconds last week, inside the previous record of 43.1 seconds set by Olympic athlete Lord Burghley 80 years ago. The attempt is normally restricted to first-years, but apparently he was granted a special dispensation due to being ill in his first year and so unable to have a go. He seems better now though!

Sebastian Coe beat the record in tersm of time running, but it was disallowed as the clock had been wound the day before, so it chimed more quickly and he failed to beat the chimes, even though he ran faster. Shame. Ho ho.

And the point? Well Sam is from Herne Bay, so with that tenuous local connection we can all feel impressed at a near-local lad achieving something magnificently pointless but mildly interesting.