by Louise Plummer Notre Dame Preparatory School father of five, Professor Madden who is based at St George’s Hospital Tooting and his daughter Aoife, Year 4, won The International Medic Father and Child Race in Birmingham last weekend.

The race is organised by the European Medical Society and the host country changes every year. It is a race for doctors and their children (aged under 11).

80 pairs from many European Countries took part. 20 of the doctors were ex- International athletes.

The championship record for the event (1 mile by adult, half mile by child) was held by a Spanish team at 7 minutes 7.6 seconds. During the meeting, and in the wind and rain, an early entry team from France set a new record of 7 mins 7.1 seconds in an earlier race.

Notre Dame's 'Team Madden' was one of the last to run. Prof Madden ran the mile in a time of 3mins 59.2 sec (the first five men ran the mile in under 4 mins 05 seconds).

Aoife put in an amazing run, pushing herself to the limit to complete a half mile in 3 mins 6.4 seconds, sprinting the last 80 yards on the track to astonish many.

That gave the Notre dame pair first place with a new championship record of 7 mins 5.6 secs. The French team held onto second and a team from Germany came third.

Team Notre Dame will donate the £1000 first prize to the 'Sisters of the Company of Mary Our Lady' charity, an international organisation which helps young women in marginalised areas of the world.

Headmaster of Notre Dame Preparatory School, Mr David Plummer was thrilled with Aoife’s latest achievement especially as she has shown great promise in interschool running events.

“Aoife is a strong front runner and has helped Notre Dame to several victories this year. It is a wonderful to have a daddy and daughter international champion pair! The nuns at the school are delighted with the donation which will be put to good work.”

For further information: Anne Gosling Notre Dame Preparatory School 01932869991 headmaster@notredame>co.uk