Helsby 3 Peaks Challenge

Having been tied up most weekends this summer with a major DIY project my running had to take a bit of a back seat. So with the prospects of the first free weekend for sometime coming up I decided to make the most of the opportunity and get some training in ready for the Sandstone Trail Race.

For some time I had been pondering over the idea of doing the 3 peaks. However I didn’t want to spend 10 hours in a car travelling the length of the country to visit the three highest points in Scotland, England and Wales. I didn’t either want to wait until next April for the slightly more local Yorkshire version.  No my version was far more convenient.

So it was on a fine Sunday morning that I set off to jog the 3 miles up to the top of Eddisbury Hill. My starting point for this challenge was the central stone of the stone circle overlooking Delamere Forest. From here the plan was to run to the trig point on Helsby Hill and then to the Memorial on the top of Frodsham Hill. To complete the course the plan was to then return back to the starting point on Eddisbury Hill.

Given that my longest run over the previous 2 months was only a little over an hour I headed off towards Helsby at a steady pace. Following mainly footpaths but with some roads to keep a fairly direct route I reached the trig point on the top of Helsby Hill in a little over 53 minutes. The second stage of the route was probably the most familiar as a lot of it followed the normal summer time Wednesday club run route until it joined the Sandstone trail which I joined to head up to the Frodsham Hill memorial. This leg the shortest of the three saw me reach the railings at the memorial 32 minutes. Now all that remained was to get back to Eddisbury. Keeping a fairly direct route and sticking mainly to the trails, though some road couldn’t be avoided I returned to my starting point in almost exactly 1 hour.

After a few well earned minutes admiring the views and trying to identify the distant geographic features that are commemorated by metal plaques arranged round the centre stone circle I slowly jogged the last 3 miles home.

My total time for the Helsby 3 peaks route was 2 hours 26 minutes and 9 seconds. The total distance covered was 15.4 miles and I can safely say it made for a thoroughly enjoyable Sunday morning run.

The Challenge

So now that I’ve set a time for the route it seemed a good idea to throw open the “Helsby 3 Peaks Challenge” to everyone else at the club.

The rules of the challenge are pretty straight forward.

To run between the three peaks listed below following a circular route which must start and finish at one of the 3 summits.

• The central stone of the Eddisbury Hill stone circle
• The Trig point on Helsby Hill
• The railings surrounding Frodsham Hill memorial

Ian