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Steve Cram joins MPs in 'Race Against Third World Debt'


Six time gold medallist, Steve Cram will join MPs from all the major parties in a 'race against third world debt' outside the Houses of Parliament tomorrow, (13 May). The race, staged by the Jubilee Debt Campaign, the World Development Movement and an all party group of MPs, will highlight the continued crisis of massive unpayable debts that cause poverty and suffering in developing countries. MPs bearing the names of some of the desperately poor countries affected by debt will race to the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving the numbers living in extreme poverty worldwide by 2015. But they will struggle under the weight of large sacks containing the unbearable debts that developing countries have to pay, and IMF and World Bank 'economic hurdles' will block their path. College Green will be set up as a running track for the event. Steve Cram, a former BBC Sports Personality of the Year, will start the race and commentate as the MPs struggle down the thirty-metre track, cheered on by their colleagues. The race will be a fun, eye catching way for MPs to draw attention to the shocking fact that over 1.2 billion people live on less than one dollar a day, and call for a commitment to further debt relief by the world's richest countries. MPs taking part in the race include: Oona King (Lab), Barbara Follett (Lab), Caroline Spelman (Con) and Paul Burstow (Lib Dem). Over 30 MPs are expected to take part in the event. The race is part of the events to mark the fifth anniversary of the 1998 G8 summit in Birmingham where 70,000 people surrounded world leaders in a human chain to demand debt relief for the world's poorest people. Joining those cheering on the racing MPs will be Mulima Akapelwa, a leading Zambian debt activist who participated in the 1998 demonstration. On Friday thousands of debt campaigners will return to Birmingham to mark the historic occasion that launched Jubilee 2000 onto the world stage as an unprecedented global campaign.

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