2013 Eton College Fives Marathon

Mike Hughes reports:

Eton College Fives Team 25 hour Fives Marathon

Saturday 9th – Sunday 10th March 2013

In early February Charlie Fairbanks Smith and Tom Hearn approached myself and C.M.B.Williams with an ambitious idea to play Fives, non-stop, for 25 hours in order to raise money for some worthy charitable causes. We were only too happy to help facilitate such a commendable initiative, and so at 5.00pm on Saturday 9th March the idea became a reality as 18 Etonians along with 10 Beaks, Old Etonians and guests appeared outside court 11 to showcase the start of a marathon effort to raise funds for Prostate Cancer UK and Thames Hospice care.

Based on a tried and tested rota the first half hour, when everyone played together on different courts, gave way to a one court, two hour on, six hour off, cycle of Eton Fives.

It was to the boys’ great credit that nobody missed any of their elected slots throughout the night, and the standard of play remained remarkably high, irrespective of the hour. We were all greatly helped and encouraged by the steady stream of supporters, from boys who had attended a school play to insomniac beaks, all of whom made the effort to come by the courts, lend their support and dig deeply into their pockets to donate to the cause. A particular hit was the sight of messrs. Fairbanks Smith & Hearn’s house cook, who turned up at 5.00am with hot chocolate and muffins for all ! It was greatly appreciated by the players and spurred us on through the longest of the hours.

As Saturday gave way to Sunday, we welcomed one or two beaks and Old Etonians onto the courts. This injection of fresh legs gave everyone new impetus and all of a sudden the end was in sight. For the last half hour we managed to get almost all the players involved back onto court to collectively bring proceedings to a close.

This was a huge effort by all the boys involved and as CMBW finally blew the whistle at 6.00pm on Sunday evening, everyone could feel very satisfied with what they had achieved.

Special thanks must go to the college for allowing the event to take place, and Housemasters for allowing their boys to come and go from their houses during the night.

As we write this, we are all delighted to report that, from donations to the justgiving page set up by the boys, and the money box which was constantly jangled courtside, we have very nearly reached a total of £3,500. A very commendable total for a very commendable event!

The Boys:

Charlie Fairbanks Smith, Tom Hearn, Jack Parham, Tom Weld, James Piggot, Oliver Rowse, Max Rowse, Sam Oppenheimer, Tom Kirkby, Felix von Stumm, Ollie Sale, Matt Asquith, Jack Capstick-Dale, Will Ponsonby, Fergus Macleod, Anthony Norman, James Cobb, Arthur Wellesley.

The Beaks:

Mark Williams, Mike Hughes, Ralph Oliphant-Callum, Mark Strutt, Tim Beard, Nick Roberts

Old Etonians:

Mark Fairbanks Smith, Christian van den Hout

Guest appearences :

Nigel Cox (LOB) & Seb Cooley (O.Olavian)