London’s Square Mile was a surreal experience last night as the City’s streets were taken over by over 5,000 runners from over 350 companies for the annual Standard Chartered Great City Race.
The 5km race helped to raise funds and awareness for Seeing is Believing, a global charity that looks to tackle avoidable blindness. £10 from each race entrant was contributed to the initiative, and this raised enough funds to cover the cost of a trichiasis operation. In addition, race registrations collectively raised over £38,000 which could provide enough medication to help battle trachoma in the Kasempa District of Zambia- protecting a population of 73,740 people.
 Phil Wicks of Legal & General won the individual men’s category for the sixth time in seven years in a blistering 14 minutes 45 seconds. Phil’s wife Emily, an Actuary with Punter Southall was the winner of the individual female race in 16 minutes 55 seconds to make it very much a family affair.
After the race, Phil Wicks commented: “The weather was perfect today. It was incredible out there and I’m so pleased that Emily won the women’s race. It’s fun to blast around and soak up the great atmosphere.”
In further support of Seeing is Believing, a group of celebrities from sport and entertainment took part in the race while blindfolded. The celebrity team included former England cricket captain Mike Gatting OBE, TV presenter Chris Hollins, Harlequins RFC fly-half Nick Evans and 5-times Paralympic running gold medallist Noel Thatcher MBE.
Richard Holmes, CEO Europe at Standard Chartered Bank, ran alongside celebrities and said: “I would like to thank everyone involved for helping to make this event such a memorable and enjoyable occasion. The spirit among all the runners and support was fantastic.
“This year’s race has raised more money for Seeing is Believing than any previous race thanks to the huge appetite across the City to take part in the event. The funds raised will make an enormous difference to the lives of thousands of people and will go a long way to helping us achieve our target of raising US$100m for the initiative by 2020.”
Actuarial Post’s Sub-Editor, Sam Richardson, also took part in the race posting a time of 25 minutes 53 seconds.
Top 5 Individual Men’s Race
1 - Phil Wicks, Legal & General: 14 minutes 45 seconds
2 - Huw Lobb, DMW Group: 15 minutes 25 seconds
3 - James Mcmullan, KPMG: 15 minutes 38 seconds
4 - Simon Coombes, Islington Council: 15 minutes 55 seconds
5 – Andrew Lawrence, Barclays PLC: 16 minutes 4 seconds
Top 5 Individual Women’s Race
1 - Emily Wicks, Punter Southall: 16 minutes 55 seconds
2 - Katy Webster, Ofcom: 17 minutes 39 seconds
3 – Lara Bromilow, HSBC Bank PLC: 18 minutes 23 seconds
4 – Anna Critchlow, Career Legal Ltd: 18 minutes 27 seconds
5 – Hannah Harazawa, Mizuho International PLC: 18 minutes 28 seconds
For more information and for full race results please visit www.cityrace.co.uk.
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