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Grey High School Clock Tower

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20150930_Grey_High_School_TowerThe Grey High School’s Clock Tower at night.

The Grey High School Clock Tower is an important part of the schools Grey Quad races. These were inspired by the film “Chariots of Fire” which deals with the rivalry between two famous Olympic athletes – Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell – before the 1924 Olympic games. In the film, Abrahams becomes the first man to beat the chimes in the famous quad race at Caius College, Cambridge in 1919.

As Grey had both the cloisters and the necessary clock tower, it was decided to hold their own version of the quad races. Matric boys do time trials and the two fastest qualifiers are chosen to compete. They then toss for position, the winner usually choosing the inside lane. They wait for the four quarters to strike before they are set off by the Rector on the first strike of the chimes. They begin the race directly in front of the war memorial and they run in an anti-clockwise direction. They race against each other and also against the eight chimes which take approximately 20 seconds to ring.

The record stands to the name of current staff member, Greg Miller, with a time of 19.8 seconds. He is one of very few who have beaten the clock.
Date: October 01, 2015 11:26

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