News

28 February 2009

Running scared (continued)

I’m climbing up 28 floors of the Park Lane Hilton with Fred Sirieix, general manager of the restaurant Galvin at Windows, which overlooks two of London’s most exclusive districts, Mayfair and Belgravia.

Fred is 21 years younger than me, a keen and competitive athlete, but I’m not doing badly. By the time we get to the 11th floor, I’m breathing heavier but we manage to hold a conversation all the way to the top. My time is six minutes 45 seconds. Fred runs it – hauling himself up by the bannisters – in around three minutes thirty, most days.

In the restaurant, a waiter brings me a glass of water and Fred hands me a linen napkin, with which I dab a corner of my mouth. “Non, Mr Brown,” Fred says, grinning. “It’s for your forehead.” Only then do I notice the beads of sweat on my brow.

Fred is from Limoges in France and a born enthusiast with a gift for conjuring up brilliant ideas and then layering them with startling levels of complexity. He ignores the puzzled looks and frowns of those listening to him, shrugging them away with “Et voila!”. Fait acomplis.

The Mayfair Park and Tower Race was Fred’s idea. In his energy and enthusiasm, he couldn’t see a single obstacle to having a bunch of celebrities race around The Serpentine in Hyde Park, through the Park Lane underpass and up all 28 floors of the Hilton by the back stairs.

He invited Mayfair Times to partner Galvin at Windows in the venture. And then he told me I was running. I’m closer to 60 than 50 and, so far, the oldest runner in the race – a point I finally make when Fred starts setting up a “duel” between me and chef patron Chris Galvin, eight years my junior.

“But Mr Brown,” Fred says, arms outstretched. “It will be fun, no?”

The race will raise funds for a project that aims to take kids at risk from gun and knife crime on London’s sink estates and then, after a screening process, put them through a catering course at Westminster Kingsway College with the offer of permanent jobs in Park Lane hotels at the end of it.

It was Fred’s idea, of course. Running around the streets of Peckham, where he lives, he became alarmed by the number of yellow police signs asking for information about stabbing incidents. Then, when he read that a teenager – Alex Rose – had launched a campaign to end gun and knife crime after watching a friend die, Fred got in touch.

As publisher of the local magazine, I was invited to join the committee of what has become known as the Galvin Chance – a project now adopted by the catering industry charity Springboard and The Hilton Foundation. Alex, who is training to be a graphic designer, was at the first meeting I attended: a brilliant young man, now in his 20s, whose campaign has taken him all the way to No 10.

Many white people my age would cross the street if they saw somebody like Alex coming towards them – especially in south London, where he lives – but in his case they would definitely be wrong. His argot may be “street”, but Alex is articulate, passionate, caring and committed: determined to help gangland kids fight their way out of the box and into a different life, a real hero.

And so, yes, I’m running. So is former Chelsea footballer Graeme Le Saux (who has agreed to be the celebrity “face” of the Galvin Chance), Michelin-starred chef Michel Roux Jr, wine writer Olly Smith, Olympic athelete Roger Black and a bunch of other stars, celebs and Mayfair businessmen and women.

Some people have said no because they’re not fit enough. Several have complained that their knees wouldn’t stand up to it. But, mostly, everyone we have asked has said yes.

Notwithstanding Fred’s anything-is-possible approach to life, there have been a few details to sort out. We forgot to ask the Royal Parks for permission to stage the event – and had an anxious week while we waited to see if the date we had already announced was available. Mercifully, it was. Then there was health and safety to be addressed, medical waivers to be drawn up, web sites to be designed, medals to be bought, awards to be made … and meeting after meeting to be held.

There is no revenue in this for Mayfair Times and I expect that, as usual, our name will be dropped from national newspaper and TV coverage of the event – so the marketing value is limited. But the goodwill on the ground makes it all worthwhile.

I’m lucky, my magazine covers one of the best-known and highest-value districts of any city in the world. That gives us access to the wealthy and glamorous, sure, but we’re still a local magazine – and it has been our goal to become part of the DNA of the territory.

We may feature celebrities on the cover, but our working partners are the people who own and run Mayfair – from aristocratic landlords to restaurant managers like Fred Sirieix. And they become our friends. Unlike other magazines that target Bond Street for its advertising, we are not tourists. We have a committed readership and – recessions willing – we’re here to stay.

So far as the race is concerned, I’m afraid I’ve just had to give myself an edge. Fred has the stairs, and he uses them. Me, I’ve started altitude training in a hypoxi-chamber at The Lansdowne Club just off Berkeley Square. I’m pretty fit for an old bloke – I have a personal trainer at the club who beats me up three times a week – but I still need help. And the physio at the club tells me the hypoxi-chamber will strengthen my lungs and increase the number of red cells in my blood, which is a good thing apparently.

It took some getting used to, but yesterday I cycled for 45 minutes at an altitude of 2,500m.

Being a regional magazine publisher just isn’t as easy as it used to be.

Erik Brown, Publisher & Editorial Director, Mayfair Times. www.mayfairtimes.co.uk