‘On-Footse’ challenge: Meet the ones to beat...

As competition hots up for places on Cambridge's annual ‘On-Footse ’ Top 100 race — two of the first local businesses to ‘get listed’ were last year's winners, the wireless technology multinational CSR and leading academic/educational publisher Cambridge University Press.

Mazeyar Firouzi, a senior Software Engineer from CSR and Rebecca O'Rourke, a Commissioning Editor at Cambridge University Press, ran the fastest male and female final miles at the Cambridge University Athletics Track to take top places on the 2010 On-Footse index — and are now the ones to beat for the 2011 event.

This year's On-Footse, supported by Cambridge News, takes place on Sunday, 26 June, and offers 100 men and women, representing up to 100 local employers, the opportunity to run the best mile they can at the University athletics track — and help raise money for a ground-breaking Wellbeing in the Workplace project being developed by local mental health charity Cam-mind.

Now in its third year, this event attracts serious competitors and fun-runners alike.

“This is a unique event which taps into the good-natured competitive spirit of local businesses as they compete for their place in the On-Footse listing,” says Cam-mind's Aly Anderson. “There are trophies up for grabs for the fastest man and woman, together with the coveted top places on the listing itself.”

“There will also be an age-related handicap in operation to level the playing field for more mature entrants.”

The event is run in timed heats on the 10-lane athletics track, finishing with two grand final for the top 10 places. “It will be good fun for spectators and promises a great atmosphere,” adds Aly, who has signed up to run on behalf of Cam-mind.

Entry fee for the event is just £30 per business/organisation. No sponsorship is required, but entrants are asked to hold a small fundraising activity — e.g. a dress up or down day — in aid of the charity.

This year's event will raise funds towards the work that Cam-mind is doing to raise awareness of mental health problems at work — and to help local employers tackle the issues of stress, depression and anxiety within their staff teams.

“We already offer the highly regarded Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) course locally and will shortly be launching our stress-busting, team-building Laughter W☺rksh☺p!,” adds Aly Anderson.

“We now want to develop a range of other services and resources to support the wellbeing of local employees — and to help managers and HR professionals in their roles. These services will help to prevent mental ill-health as well as provide support/signposting for those already affected.”

For more information — and to view photos from the 2010 event — please log on to www.footse100.org or contact Wendy Von Niebel on 01638 661820.