Helsby RC Blog – 8th May 2025
club news, weekly news

Helsby RC Blog – 8th May 2025

Welcome to the latest race results blog. It’s been a good few weeks since the last one so there’s a lot of results! Let us know if we’ve missed any – any that we’ve missed, we’ll include next time. We’ll also include Dinas Bran and the Borders Relays in the next edition (they took place last night but it doesn’t look like official results have been published yet)

Borders League

The final fixture of the season at Mold saw Helsby Men crowned Borders League champions for the first time since 2001!

Helsby Women finished 4th in Division 1 and there were also several individual honours over the course of the season: Rhys Bowden finished 1st U20 male, Mark Amphlett 2nd V40 male, Mark Gittins 1st V45 male and Alison Halsall 2nd V55 female. Full results of the final fixture, plus final league and individual standings are available here: Results – Borders League

Manchester & London Marathons

We had a number of Helsby members running in the marathons last weekend. Results are all below, including a new club record from Conor Sarsfield.

Salford 10k

On Good Friday, Harry Walton was the one Helsby finisher in the Salford 10k, clocking a new PB of 35:07. Full results: UKResults and UKtimers – Race Results Service – Results for Salford 10k Road Race, Greater Manchester on 18th April 2025

Trafford Grand Prix

Track season is underway.

In the first Trafford Grand Prix, we had Mark Gittins and Andy Bromley in action in the 3000. Mark clocked a new PB of 9:10 for 8th in his heat – this time sees him currently 2nd in the UK V45 rankings. Andy was 13th in his heat with an unofficial 9:48 – no official time due to timing clock malfunctions! Full Results: Trafford AC

In the 2nd Trafford, we had Chris Levick in both the 400 (2nd in heat, 60.54) and the 800 (6th in heat, 2:21) and Ian Mayhew in the 3000 (8th in heat, 9:29 PB). Full results: Trafford AC

Hale Village 5

We had 5 Helsby runners in the Hale 5 mile. Full results here UKResults and UKtimers – Race Results Service – Results for Hale Village 5, Merseyside on 20th April 2025 and Helsby results in the photo:

Spring 5

We had a big Helsby turnout for the Chester Spring 5. Full results here: Chester Spring 5 2025 Final Results – niftyEntries.com and Helsby results in the photos:

May the 4th Trail Marathon

Phil Wood was victorious in a joint 1st place finish at the May the 4th Trail Marathon. Alan Lea and Alison Williams were also top 10 finishers, 7th and 8th respectively. Full results in the photo below:

Newport 10k

Hayley Fernyhough ran the Newport 10k on the 13th April, clocking 49:26 (new PB)

Calder Vale 10 mile

Lauren Cooke sent us the following race report:

“On a drizzly Good Friday, I lined up on the start line of Calder Vale for their annual Good Friday 10-mile road race.

Having signed up for this on a whim, expecting some hills but nothing of the likes of those around Helsby, a bit more research showed me that the route was far more challenging than I was expecting so this was always going to be a mental battle.

There was a lovely downhill start where my plan to treat the first couple of miles as a warm up at a nice pace went out the window, but coming across the first incline 2.5 miles in soon grounded me and made me stick to my plan.

After a few miles of steady climb, I came across what can only be described as the top bit of Towers on steroids. A regular at the race assured me this was the worst bit and there was only one hill left after it (he lied – there was more than one left), which gave me the boost I needed to get to the top and then discover my newfound love of running downhill.

The last three miles were a mix of pushing the pace downhill thinking it’s all downhill from here, and coming across another unexpected incline, but knowing I was near the end kept me going. Happily the very last push to the finish line was downhill so I even managed a sprint finish after over 900ft elevation. 

I’d definitely recommend to anyone who loves hills!”

Northern Traverse Ultra Marathon

Matt Hampson sent us the following race report: “I did the 300km Northern Traverse race, following the Wainwright route from coast to coast. I’ve done a few ultras in my time, but this was a big step up in distance and a really satisfying experience.

It took me 86 hours, 38 seconds, with various periods of running, walking, and a bit of sleep. A bit of hallucination in the night time which made life interesting! Did a decent job keeping myself in decent condition and made it all the way, even managing a silly sprint finish at the end.

Overall, great fun, would really recommend this race. For my full, very long write up: see

https://journeyruntotheend.blogspot.com/2025/04/NorthernTraverse2025.html

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