Helsby Running Club

More about championships

We run an annual championship open to all club members for the prestigious title of Club Champions for both male and female athletes in a variety of categories. The aim is to reward performance and encourage participation. The championship is split into five categories:

Summer (typically March to September)

  • Road
  • Fell
  • Trail

Winter (typically October to April)

  • Cross Country
  • Borders League

Each championship category has prizes for both women and men and has seven nominated races. To qualify for the championship prize, a runner needs to have completed a minimum of three races with a maximum of five to count towards the championship. There will be separate prizes for age category winners for both men and women for all disciplines; this will be in five or ten year age gaps dependent on numbers of participants.

The races are chosen to maximise participation i.e. easy to get to, spread out over the year, cheap and popular. In each race, the first male club runner receives 30 points, the second 29, the third 28 etc. and the first women club runner 20 points, the second 19, the third 18…you can probably see the pattern!

In addition, the overall Club Champions will be decided by each participant’s best race performance from each discipline, to be eligible for overall club champion participants must have competed for Helsby in all disciplines.

In addition, at the award evenings (usually in June), the following prizes are awarded:

  • Joe Beswick Trophy (the runners’ runner) – the award of this trophy is to recognise the person who has given the most to the club whether through performance in races or efforts for the club – voted on by all members present
  • Best comeback – as identified by the Club Chair and Men’s and Women’s Captains
  • Most improved over the season (man and woman) – as identified by the Club Chair and Men’s and Women’s Captains
  • Best road all-rounder – as identified by Season’s Bests over a variety of road race lengths