Roald Dahl Nurses meet with Nigel Havers ahead of Chariots of Fire Relay Race this summer

Actor Nigel Havers was at Cambridge's Trinity College Great Court this week, scene of the Great Court Run against 12 strikes of its famous clock - a scene which Havers helped bring to life and legend in the movie Chariots of Fire. This time, though, he was cheering on three Roald Dahl Nurses in training ahead of the city's Chariots of Fire annual charity relay race later this summer, this year backing Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity which raises funds to establish Nurse Specialists who care for thousands of seriously ill children across the UK. Runners and Roald Dahl Nurses Clare, Katrina and Elizabeth met with Nigel Havers, who played Lord Andrew Lindsay in the movie, to talk about the work they do, and their ambitions for their own Chariots of Fire run. “We didn’t expect this movie to have a lasting legacy,” says Havers. “It has so many layers but mostly it is about winning though. I feel really glad to have been part of it and I am so pleased to be here at Trinity with Roald Dahl Nurses today, and that this year Chariots of Fire is supporting Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity. Nurses everywhere do a fantastic job, but meeting Roald Dahl Nurses Clare, Elizabeth and Katrina, and hearing about the work they do and very personalised, bespoke care they offer to children with life-limiting or lifelong serious illness. I was struck by how much sense this way of working makes. They are doing a marvellous job for children and their families.”

The race is sponsored by HCR Hewitsons, who chose Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity as its partner for 2025 to support its fundraising to establish new specialist Roald Dahl Nurses, to add to the 200 plus it has helped put into post already and who now care for over 40,000 children with serious and lifelong conditions.  

"We are really excited about this partnership and the opportunity to share our story with everyone in this region of England, while raising vital funds for the life-changing work our Roald Dahl Nurses do," says their Chief Executive Louise Griew. "And we are so delighted to have Nigel Havers’ support as he returned to the Great Court setting at Trinity to meet with some of our Roald Dahl Nurses.” RunThrough, the UK’s largest and Europe’s fastest-growing running events company, will organise this year’s race, continuing the legacy of the 31st Race of Chariots of Fire, founded in 1991. Since it's inception, Chariots of Fire has raised over £1.48 million for local and regional charities, with an estimated 6,245 teams having taken part in the race, with approximately 37,470 individual runners pitting themselves against each other.