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Latest newsAll the latest news and other good stuff is on the blog: helsbyrunningclub.wordpress.com. Get involved! Join us for a club run every Wednesday, 6:30pm at the Helsby Community Sports Club, or Mondays for a quality session at the High School track (summer) or Castle Park (winter). You can also pick up a membership form from our blog site. If you want to join try before you buy, do just that!
Our other big event of the year — the Sandstone Trail Challenge was Saturday 11 May 2019. And another cracker it was too. Our race directors will no doubt pen a few words of thanks when they've got their breath back - three cheers Dave and Leslie! But in the meantime thanks all for coming and making it happen, turning up to run and walk and for the countless small and not so small acts behind the scenes needed to get the show on the road. THANKS!
Provisional results for 2019 here. Lots of pics here on our Flickr site. Please help yourself to any image downloads and if you're feeling particularly pleased bung a couple of quid to your favourite charity. Halton Haven can always use a hand for one. Another brilliant event! More here on the sandstone trail pages.
Once again we dodged the weather gods, with a miserable pre-race drizzle sorting itself out in time for the race start at 10:30am. And dry it remained!
At the front it was a commanding victory from friend of the race Mohammad Abu-Rezec in 1h06 (the rest of can one wonder what it's like to run at that speed!). Another previous winner Michael Kallenberg had to be content with second place this year. The women were brought home by Kirsty Longley, closely followed by Helsby's very own Hannah Cowley, knocking around 10 mins off last year's time and again taking home the best local female prize. The men's and women's race winners both suffered in the cold last year and clearly had something to prove this year!
More importantly there were strong runs throughout the field with many smiles on the finish line. We love to see a competitive race at the front but this has always been a race for all runners and there were triumphs aplenty throughout the field.
Results on the Nifty site here:
Have a look at our Facebook page for post race chat and warm feelings.
Well how good was that? Congratulations all for sticking with us and enjoying another great run through the wind and rain. We're only glad it warmed up a bit, otherwise it could have been proper chilly! Congrats to our male and female winners Mohammad Abu rezeq and Gemma Connolly - both previous winners of the event.
Congratulations also to all our prize winners but most of all to every single one of you that helped make the day a success right through to our very last finishers, keeping the race sweeper company. Special mention this year to our fantastic volunteers, with the special challenge of staying warm in those conditions. There are around a couple of hundred people that make this race possible behind the scenes. Thank you!
Thanks to Richard Stradling for the video!
Any queries on timing, lost property, prizes, etc to runners@helsbyrunningclub.org.uk please.
All of these to be updated to 2019 versions when available. But in the meantime, much of the information still stands:
2019 Four Villages race booklet - mailed with postal packs [PDF, 1.3MB]
Car parking help [PDF, 78KB]
Course map [PDF, 61KB]
Finish area map [PDF, 171KB]
Club site and start area [PDF, 103KB]
Road closures letter and map [PDF]
Best wishes,
The Helsby Four Villages Half Marathon team
Four Villages Facebook group
Join the chat
RunHelsby on twitter
#4vhm #greenarmy #fellsby
A big thanks to all of you who ran, walked, pushed and helped out at the Sport Relief Mile (or six) fundraiser. What a great fun inspirational day it turned out to be!
141 runners completed either a single, three or six mile fun race. There were lots of families running, including some of our club members and children, but more importantly people who wouldn't normally get involved in this kind of thing. Well done all! Age range of runners from 2 to 89! With lots of cheers and encouragement from supporters, marshals along the way with new residents of the Windings looking out from their balconies.
All round the elements were on our side with a spring day of dry sunny weather. The atmosphere and smiles will be remembered, funds raised plus we may have encouraged some young aspirant Helsby Running Club members too!?
There's lots of pictures up at https://goo.gl/photos/9oThZjb2YEK6o4jN7 - and some real crackers there are!
Sport Relief brings the entire nation together to get active, raise cash and change lives. Half of all the money the public raises is spent by Comic Relief right here at home in the UK, with the other half used to make a difference in the world's poorest communities. By taking part in a Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile in your local area, you are helping us make a difference to people living unimaginably tough lives.
The 2016 race was a great success — see you again in January 2017!
<< Go here to read the race page and read more >>
The 2016 Challenge will be on Saturday 7 May. All runner places were taken in record time and the waiting list is full. Walker places have also been taken but there are a few spaces on the waiting list. << Go here to read more and enter >>
The 2015 results are now up. There's a Race Director's short report about the event here with a few photos. There are more photos on the web, There are some blogs and photos up on the Delamere Spartans website too. Steve Roberts' blog - he had a hard time of it and didn't finish, but we hope he'll be back for another go next year. Nick Wishart's blog - Nick finished 5th this year. John Kleiser took some photos and a short video as well. More here.
Thanks all for coming! Thanks to all our racers, runners, joggers, supporters and organisers (sorry if you had to wait for your bag at the end!). Thanks for generally sharing a great day with us!
Loads of photos of the day up on our flickr site. Don't forget to check Mick Hall's official race photo site too!
You can use these 2014 instructions for general information — there will be some updates for 2015. Entry details.
Download the 2014 race booklet [PDF, 579KB] with updated map for the 2012 minor route change at Dunham-on-the-hill.
Full 2014 parking instructions [PDF, 733KB] with updated map and parking instructions.
For the first time in our 32 year history we had to cancel our January Half Marathon because of treacherous snow and ice conditions. Many of our suppliers were incredibly generous in waiving their fees with just 24 hours notice of the cancellation, for which we thank them. Just as significant though were the individual small acts of kindness of our runners who chose to donate their refunds to charity.
Particular mention to our headline sponsor Essar, for their continued support for the race that never was — great to rely on them in these changing times.
Pictures from the course of the aborted 2013 race on our flickr site.
Another great success on 11 May 2013 with 187 walker and runners completing the event between 4h51 and 12h3. More on the 2013 Sandstone Trail Challenge event page with links to the results, race report and event pictures.
2012 was another fabulous event. Thank you all for turning out and walking or running the entire Sandstone Challenge. With a great atmosphere out on the trail — and a lovely supportive atmosphere at the finish — we're lucky to have such high quality entrants. You traversed an entire county and travelled the length of a complete OS 1:50,000 sheet!
Last year we had stunning new male and female records from Duncan Harris and Caroline Hall, but of course it's not all about speed, as our happy walkers will attest. We're keen to keep this inclusive for anyone who can complete this challenging distance over the day and we split the entries evenly between runners and walkers. Full results for 2011 and 2012 on the event pages.
Pictures :: Lots of great pictures from the day:
www.flickr.com/photos/runhelsby
www.flickr.com/photos/benandserena
www.flickr.com/photos/nickingsley
www.flickr.com/photos/78556448@N05 (Larkton Hill)
www.flickr.com/photos/78556448@N05 (Delamere Forest)
Thanks to all our photographers for sharing.
Well that was good, wasn't it? Thanks for everyone's kind comments, looks like many of you enjoyed the day despite the wind! There's a race report over onthe blog here.
Video from Mick Hall. Gobuy a photo if you want to support him!
<< 2012 results >> There's also a great drill-down resource on the Power of Ten, where you can compare performances of club runners.
If enjoyed the run and you're local why not join us in training on Mondays and Wednesdays. We're not all fast!
Our race report is on the blog at http://helsbyrunningclub.wordpress.com. Please add your comments! Half marathon pages here.
Posing for the Chester Chronicle!
Positive PR :: Other good press is coming in at the Chester Chronicle, Northern Running Guide, Run 247, Runners World and others. More at Rhyl Journal, Liverpool Echo, RunBritain.com, Ellesmere Port Pioneer, Halifax Evening Courier, This is Staffordshire. Lee Riley's remarkable world record running with the 40lb pack is covered in the Crewe Chronicle. Personal stories at Cumbrian Runner, Furious Cycling, Beginner Triathlete and a great insight to life at the front of the pack from 3rd place Dave Norman. Let us know your own stories...
Photos :: As well as the official Mick Hall photos, photographerSteve Angus was on hand snapping away ...immediately after a Top 100 finish. Nice one! Watch those two sites for photos as they appear and we'll let you know if we hear of any others. Mick Charman also has a nice collection on Flickr.
After the uncertainty of the bad weather, this turned out to be another great day for running. If you enjoyed the race, have you thought about joining Helsby Running Club? We're open for all abilities. Race pictures: Mick Hall's 2010 event photos are here. Faster folk on the earlier pages, slower later. 2010 race results
A member of Helsby Community Sports Club