Chariots of Fire 2025: supporting Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity

Chariots of Fire is the iconic 1.8-mile relay race around Cambridge, taking in a number of the city’s famous colleges as part of a unique route across the city.

Teams of six compete by running the course route, which at other times of the year are closed to members of the public, all whilst raising money for charity.

Since its inception in 1991, Chariots of Fire has raised over £1.6m for good causes, and this year’s race, organised by HCR Hewitsons in partnership with RunThrough, will be supporting Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity.

The charity establishes specialist nurses in NHS Trusts to provide a bespoke, holistic, ‘make things happen’ kind of care and support for children living with serious and complex lifelong health conditions. More than 150 Roald Dahl Nurses currently care for over 36,000 children at any one time and money raised at this event will specifically fund specialist care in the Cambridge/East of England region.

“Families caring for seriously ill children with complex needs are on a complicated journey, often seeing multiple specialists and attending a whole number of appointments across each week or month,” explains the charity’s CEO, Louise Griew.

“Our nurses help them navigate that journey providing help to improve the quality and experience of care in a way that can prove transformative to the whole family.”

One of the charity’s recent films, which picked up a prize at the 2025 Smiley Charity Film Awards, features a little girl called Ada, whose family’s life was transformed by her Roald Dahl Nurse, Lucy Broom, after she was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Aicardi-Goutières Syndrome which affects the brain, spinal cord and immune system.

Ada’s story

Two and a half years ago, as Ada Brame approached her first birthday, her parents Gary and Helen knew something wasn’t right. While Ada had been crawling, standing, sitting and eating like her peers, suddenly she seemed to be going backwards and her parents, Gary and Helen, felt life turn upside down as they started – via rounds of tests and hospital appointments – to search for answers.

“As parents your instinct is to find a solution. You think there must be one, somehow and somewhere…” says Helen.

But fast forward past those 12 horrible months of medical appointments, genetic tests and CT scans, it was confirmed that Ada had a rare genetic condition called Aicardi-Goutières Syndrome which affects the brain, spinal cord and immune system.

“Then came the questions about treatments and symptom management and ways to ease the pain and discomfort,” says Helen.

“It saw us staying in hospital – here in Cambridge at Addenbrooke’s and in Ipswich – and then, when we were home, physio appointments, meetings with consultants, and of course the dashes into A&E whenever Ada was struggling.”

This is not an unfamiliar tale for families whose children are diagnosed with serious and complex conditions and, parents often left feeling lost in the system, overwhelmed by the medical jargon they’re hearing, and stressed out by what might follow

But the story for Ada changed when she and her family met Lucy Broom, a Roald Dahl Nurse based in Ipswich.

Lucy Broom brings to her role not only a mass of specialist experience, but also an understanding that for parents like Gary and Helen, whose child was born well and then became unwell, the world they find themselves in seems alien.

“The NHS is pretty amazing in what it delivers, but complex conditions like Ada’s mean a complex journey for the family,” says Lucy. “My role allows me to be by their side and in their corner and provide some continuity in their life.”

“We had no idea what a Roald Dahl Nurse was, but within days everything about our experience of her care changed. It was so many little things that made such a huge difference,” says Gary.

“If we felt Ada was struggling and needed help, we’d call Lucy and she’d coordinate things so the right consultants were there waiting to see us,” adds Helen. “And if we were in hospital, she’d be with us at appointments. She, like me, came to know the intricacies of Ada’s condition and what would benefit her and she was always in her corner. I trusted her completely.”

These memories matter, say Helen, because they added up to something which gave her and Gary real confidence in their care of Ada, shifting the dynamics at home where every conversation might be a ‘should we ask’, or’ did we check…’ and every sleepless night worrying what they might have missed. And – by doing that – it freed them up to really enjoy the time they had with Ada before she passed away last September..

“We will be forever grateful that we didn’t spend her last year queuing up in hospitals or on multiple calls trying to get through to consultants or stressed out and tearful rather than holding her close,” says Helen. “And all that is thanks to Lucy.”

Help to raise funds for Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity

You can help raise funds for Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity by signing you and a team up for this year’s Chariots of Fire.

The race is open to various categories, including male, female, mixed, veteran, and college teams. The event village will be located at Queen’s Green, offering a vibrant race-day experience with food, drink, and entertainment.

Every team that registers for Chariots of Fire is encouraged to raise as much sponsorship money as possible outside of registration fees, which cover the operational costs of the day. It is our combined fundraising efforts that make this event a continued success.

Adam Finch, Partner and Charity Lead at HCR Hewitsons said: “If each team could raise at least £250 each, and we have similar numbers to last year, we could raise £75,000 for Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, which would be a fantastic achievement.”