The chap racing against Abrahams in the above scene is Lord Andrew Lindsay, whose character was based on Lord Burghley, the original race winner. They changed his name due to the fact Burghley refused to be associated with the film because it played fast and loose with the facts. Chariots of Fire shows the race won- and the clock beaten- by Harold. In actual fact, although Abrahams did attend Cambridge, he never attempted the Great Court Run and was not even a student there at the same time as Burghley. So David Burghley was understandably ticked off as being portrayed as having lost a race he'd actually won, to someone who wasn't even present at the time. Oh well, it's still a great scene in a wonderful movie.
The above image is from the 1981 film Chariots of Fire which is based on historical events leading up to the 1924 Olympic Games, and the rivalry between British athletes Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams. In the scene pictured, Harold Abrahams is attempting the Great Court Run at Trinity College, Cambridge. The race traditionally takes place once a year at the Matriculation Dinner; runners race around the enclosed Great Court (a distance of 339 meters) at noon, attempting to do so before the tower clock strikes twelve, which takes approximately 43-44 seconds. This is so difficult that only two men have managed to beat the clock in the entire history of the race. The first was Lord David Burghley in 1927, the second was George Mears in 2019. There were a couple of others in the early 2000's who beat the clock, but they were running a shorter track- on the Court's cobblestones instead of the flagstones, reducing the distance from 339 meters to 297 meters, so they don't count. The chap racing against Abrahams in the above scene is Lord Andrew Lindsay, whose character was based on Lord Burghley, the original race winner. They changed his name due to the fact Burghley refused to be associated with the film because it played fast and loose with the facts. Chariots of Fire shows the race won- and the clock beaten- by Harold. In actual fact, although Abrahams did attend Cambridge, he never attempted the Great Court Run and was not even a student there at the same time as Burghley. So David Burghley was understandably ticked off as being portrayed as having lost a race he'd actually won, to someone who wasn't even present at the time. Oh well, it's still a great scene in a wonderful movie.
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