Helsby RC – Blog – 7th February 2025
club news, weekly news

Helsby RC – Blog – 7th February 2025

Welcome to the latest blog. We’re trialling a new approach to writing these – we’ve previously been using the approach that members send in their own race reports but struggling to get enough reports sent in to really make it work (we’d only had 1 in the past 2 months). So instead we’re trialling the approach used by a few other clubs to just write their own (albeit keeping the reports relatively brief). Let’s see how it goes!

Borders League

So firstly, we had Round 3 of the Borders League held at Coleg Cambria at Deeside. Despite a number of withdrawals, our men’s team did really well to maintain their position at the top of the league and to keep alive the dream of a first Borders League victory since the 1990’s. It is tight at the top though with Wrexham just 70 points behind and defending champions Buckley also in contention sitting 3rd.

Individual results were:

8th – Mark Gittins (23:40)

12th – Rhys Bowden (23:55)

23rd – Mike Fryer (24:38)

27th – Mark Amphlett (24:47)

32nd – Dan Lightfoot (25:10)

36th – Ian Mayhew (25:21)

42nd – Andy Brookshaw (25:43)

59th – Les Dash (26:30)

130th – Matt Larkin (29:45)

135th – Al Garnett (29:55)

143rd – Aidan Hughes (30:16)

151st – Nigel Cosford (30:33)

191st – Ian Peers (32:09)

202nd – David Smith (32:30)

211th – Alan Lea (33:02)

227th – Trevor Lewis (33:31)

230th – Jay Whitby (33:39)

The same fixture saw our women’s team relinquish the lead at the top of the table thanks to a strong showing from Deeside AC. Again it’s very tight at the top though as we sit only 46 points behind Deeside at the halfway stage of the season with the title dream just as alive for the women as it is for the men.

Individual womens’ results (with female positions in brackets) were:

56th – (2nd) – Luisa Candioli (26:16)

67th – (3rd) – Hannah Cowley (26:58)

116th – (14th) – Anna Begbie (29:22)

164th – (28th) – Alison Halsall (31:05)

250th – (59th) – Kathryn Schofield (34:23)

254th – (62nd) – Sarah Larkin (34:38)

290th – (83rd) – Susie Woodward-Moor (36:24)

305th – (92nd) – Alison Williams (37:43)

318th – (98th) – Emily Smith (39:57)

343rd – (111th) – Steph Hughes (42:56)

Results and league standings all here: Results – Borders League

L&D Cross Country League

Secondly, cross country: this Sunday saw the Championship race of the Liverpool & District cross country league held at Clarke’s Gardens in Woolton. Helsby mens’ results were:

21st – Ian Mayhew (26:50)

62nd – Matt Larkin (30:39)

85th – John Whitehead (32:19)

113th – Steve Riley (36:03)

And Helsby womens’ results (same race as the men but results published separately):

8th – Laura Baynham-Hughes (31:32)

42nd – Sarah Larkin (36:39)

Results all here: Championships 2024-2025 – Liverpool District Cross-Country Union

Pendle Way Ultra Marathon

Last but not least, we also had Kate Mann and Stephen Wiggins finish 59th and 60th respectively in the Pendle Way in a Day 30 mile ultra marathon on Sunday. Full results here: Runner 30 mile | Overall | Pendle Way In A Day 2025 | Resources.ws.RaceResults | Webscorer

If there’s any other race results we’ve missed, just let us know and we’ll include them next time.

Upcoming Races

Finally, looking ahead, the next few weekends see the final fixture of the North West Sunday Cross Country League held at Croxteth Hall (Sun 9th Feb) and the 4th round of the Borders League at Trac Mon, Anglesey (Sun 23rd Feb). I’m sure you all know that we have a coach booked for Anglesey, contact Fitzy to book a place if you haven’t already.

New Booking System

In case anyone wasn’t already aware, we’ve replaced the old Excel spreadsheet (for booking onto training sessions and races) with the much more efficient Spond app. It’s free to download on any Smartphone and the code for Helsby Running Club is MUYJO. Any problems, please contact John Whitehead or Tim Palmer.

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