Academics from Middlesex University Business School and a former Enfield MP are to compete in a gruelling triathlon to raise money for cancer research.

Lord Bryan Davies, Dr Bruce Thompson and Arthur Hindmarch will take part in the London Triathlon in Docklands on September 20.

They are currently looking for sponsors to help them raise money for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund.

Dr Thompson, a human resources management lecturer at the business school, will start the three-event challenge with a 1,500 swim.

He will hand over to Lord Davies who will undertake the second leg, a 40km cycle ride.

Lord Davies was a politics lecturer at the former Middlesex Polytechnic from 1965 to 1974, when he became MP for Enfield North.

He was created a life peer last year and now sits in the House of Lords.

And the race will be completed by Mr Hindmarch, a lecturer in accounting who lives in Broxbourne, with a 10km run to the finish line.

Mr Thompson said the fact that the trio are all aged over 55 would not affect their determination to do well in the triathlon, which attracts international top-class athletes.

He said: ''Although we may not look like the most likely members of a team to challenge at one of the world's premier triathlon events, we have been training hard and our commitment is not in question. We will do the best we can to demonstrate the importance of cancer research and the need to give it support through events of this kind."

Anyone wanting to sponsor Mr Thompson should c

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