Editing Trinity College, Cambridge (section)

===Great Court Run===
[[File:cmglee Cambridge Trinity College Great Court.jpg|thumb|400px|[[Trinity Great Court|Great Court]], with (from left to right) the dining hall, Master's Lodge, fountain, clock tower, chapel and Great Gate.]]

The Great Court Run requires a circuit of the 400-yard perimeter of [[Trinity Great Court|Great Court]], in the 43 seconds of the clock striking 12. The time varies according to humidity. Students traditionally attempt to complete the circuit on the day of the Matriculation Dinner. It is a difficult challenge: one needs to be a fine sprinter to achieve it, but it is not necessary to be of Olympic standard, despite assertions made in the press.<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/athletics/article2748773.ece Student breaks 'Chariots of Fire' record] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710062921/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ |date=10 July 2022 }} ''Times Online'' article. 27 October 2007.</ref>

It is widely believed that [[Sebastian Coe]] successfully completed the run when he beat [[Steve Cram]] in a charity race in October 1988. Coe's time on 29 October 1988 was reported by [[Norris McWhirter]] to have been 45.52 seconds, but it was actually 46.0 seconds, while Cram's was 46.3 seconds. The clock on that day took 44.4 seconds and the video film confirms that Coe was some 12 metres short of the finish line when the final stroke occurred. The television commentators were wrong to speculate that the dying sounds of the bell could be included in the striking time, thereby allowing Coe's run to be claimed as successful. One reason Olympic runners Cram and Coe found the challenge difficult is that they started at the middle of one side of the court, having to negotiate four right-angle turns. In the days when students started at a corner, only three turns were needed. In addition, Cram and Coe ran entirely on the flagstones, while until 2017 students have typically cut corners to run on the cobbles.<ref>{{cite web |title=Great Court Run reverts to tradition |url=https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/great-court-run-reverts-to-tradition/ |website=Trinity College Cambridge |access-date=7 February 2022 |date=11 October 2017 |archive-date=7 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207025947/https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/great-court-run-reverts-to-tradition/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Great Court Run was portrayed in the film ''[[Chariots of Fire]]'' about the British Olympic runners of 1924. The run was filmed at [[Eton College]] in Berkshire, not in Great Court.  Until the mid-1990s, the run was traditionally attempted by first-year students at midnight following their matriculation dinner.<ref>[http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2015-10-13/runners-latest-attempt-to-beat-the-college-clock/ "Runners' latest attempt to beat the college clock"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015230712/http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2015-10-13/runners-latest-attempt-to-beat-the-college-clock/ |date=15 October 2015 }}, ''ITV News'', 13 October 2015</ref> Following a number of accidents to undergraduates running on slippery cobbles, the college now organises a more formal Great Court Run, at 12 noon on the day of the matriculation dinner: while some contestants compete seriously, many others run in fancy dress and there are prizes for the fastest man and woman in each category.<ref>[https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/great-court-run-reverts-to-tradition/, "Great Court run reverts to tradition"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710062931/https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/great-court-run-reverts-to-tradition/ |date=10 July 2022 }}, Trinity College, 11 October 2017</ref>