Latest Green Army news & reviews
Welcome to our latest Helsby RC round-up! We’ve got several races to report back on, so sit back and enjoy the read………….. As long as the topic is club related it is fair game for the round up blog. We want to hear from YOU. Please send your material to helsbyracereports@gmail.com
Birchwood 10k
Firstly, we had Cassie Fleming & Laura Kelly represent Helsby at the Birchwood 10k on Sunday 18th August.
Both completed the couch to 5k earlier this year and have gone from strength to strength finishing in a chip time of 1:05:10 (exact same time!), with Laura achieving a PB, knocking off 4 minutes!
North Wales Endurance Track Open
Secondly, we’ve had several runners in track action. On Tuesday 20th August, the North Wales Endurance Open at the Deeside Stadium saw Mark Gittins, Andy Bromley and Hannah Cowley all featuring in the 3000m. Results were:
Mark: 10th in Heat 1 – 9:33.81
Andy: 16th in Heat 1 – 9:48.35 (SB)
Hannah: 3rd in Heat 2 – 10:13.29 (SB)
Full results here: Results (thepowerof10.info)
Running Bear Track Mile
Then on Friday 30th August, we had Ian Mayhew in action in the Running Bear mile in Stockport. Ian took 2nd place for a place on the podium in a new PB of 4:44. The Running Bear Track Mile events, in Ian’s own words, are “Really great events. I’ve been to their races at Crewe, Macclesfield and now Stockport (they use a different venue each time) and they remind me so much of our own Helsby Track Night. The atmosphere is fantastic (there’s a big crowd, there’s music pumping out and there’s food and beer stalls to enjoy) and there’s 7 graded heats of greatly varying standards, so there’s a competitive race for everyone. The only downside is that this one clashed with Mid Cheshire once Run Cheshire moved the date (I really wanted to do both!).”
Full results here: The Running Bear Summer Track Mile (racetecresults.com)
Cilcain Mountain Race
Thirdly, we had the Cilcain Show Mountain Race on Bank Holiday Monday 26th August. Steve Riley talks us through the action:
A traditional race dating back to 1960, held on August Bank Holiday Monday as part of the Cilcain Show and normally a Helsby favourite. The race couldn’t be more simple – “See that big hill up there with the fort on top? Run up there, turn around and come back down through that steep heathery singletrack.”
The race had an extra big and quality field this year as part of both a Welsh series and Merseyside Champs. The scousers do like Moel Famau. The ups were predictably hard, often on that annoying cusp of just steep enough to be confused whether to walk or run.
For our lot, the dark horse of the Larkin clan Joe, was not to be seen after that start. Someone get that lad a green vest. For someone who claimed to be suffering after attending Leeds Festival, it was a storming performance. Sarah took an early lead on the climb with her recently found fell-enthusiasm. Your author, Steve was questioning his life choices. After half a lifetime of grinding climb we turned around at the fort to be met with an initially steep descent on unprepared climbing legs. The descent leveled out and soon became that kind of slightly rutted singletrack only wide enough for one. You had to play your cards stealthily for the occasional passing opportunities. At some point the Helsby green vests exchanged places. As per the recent Gyrn Gallop there was slightly too much tarmac to finish and another bit of tarmac to climb. At this point most runners were breathing out of their ears and sprinting through treacle. The green duel was such that it wasn’t safe to look behind and show weakness.
A brilliant race, great camaraderie throughout the field and free beer to finish. More please next year.
Joe Larkin 43:58 (honorary Helsby)
Steve Riley 52:28
Sarah Larkin 52:40
Thanks to Debbie and the Larkins for the support!
Spunch Orienteering Event
Fourthly, we had the Spunch Orienteering event held in Frodsham on Wednesday 28th August. As described by Immy Sykes:
On Wednesday 28th August, a weepy grey day broke into a bright russet-orange evening as over 160 runners and walkers descended on Frodsham community centre for a few hours of SPUNCHing hosted by Deeside Orienteering. Created by Andy Thornton, a SPUNCH bridges the gap between orienteers and runners by using a basic GPS of invisible checkpoints and a map, challenging participants to reach as many checkpoints as possible within 60, 90, or 120 minutes. Over 90 checkpoints were scattered across Castle Park, up Frodsham Hill, onto the golf course, into Woodhouse Hill, and even over to Lady Heyes and Newton, offering a vast range of options and strategies.
Most Helsby Runners opted to head out in groups, quickly gaining elevation into the leafy shroud of Frodsham woods to take advantage of the shaded checkpoints. At times, the groups joined and swelled with one another contributing to the party environment of laughing and general silly goosery, splintering only at junctions as each team or individual decided quickly on a different approach. What I enjoyed particularly about the SPUNCH was getting to see the paths and shortcuts I’ve forgotten about in my daily running and feeling that wonderous sense of adventure as we all collaborated to figure out where best to go. We truly have some of the best running on our doorstep.
My group had Steph and Charlotte largely at the helm, directing operations and keeping us marching forward efficiently, getting us back to the community centre with a comfortable 10 minutes to spare. Others took a different tack, timing their route to perfection and sprinting to the finish point with mere seconds until the cut off, determined to squeeze in every last possible checkpoint. Matt Larkin, in particular, managed 3rd place reaching 51 checkpoints in 90 minutes – pretty exceptional running.
As usual with Helsby Runners, our enthusiasm and support for local events meant that we won the coveted white envelope of ‘two free SPUNCH places’ for being so numerous – motivation for us to get back out at other events.
Back at the community centre, Deeside Orienteering had put on ice cream and Nachos from the brilliant Bene Gelato in Frodsham, though most of headed over to Little India where Debbie had booked us a table. We spent the rest of the evening swapping stories and strategies over curry, very much grateful for the wonderful running community we’ve got in this little corner of Cheshire.
Mid Cheshire 5k
And finally, we had the Mid Cheshire 5k on Friday 30th August. As described by Les Dash:
On Friday 30th August 977 runners descended on the rural roads of Kingsley for the ever popular Mid Cheshire Summer 5K. A stunning late summer’s evening, with the sun low in the sky saw 16 Helsby runners lining up to run the magical loop that has provided so many PB’s previously, and tonight didn’t disappoint. Froddy was at his usual 400 meters to go spot with his usual encouragement, plus Mike Fryer a bit further along who’d brought his 6 week old daughter out to watch her first race, defiantly helping with that final push. There were PB’s (including sub 20, 19 & 18 minute milestones) and seasons best galore with runners coming back from injury and back to form, unfortunately Andy Bromley got caught up in the busy start and took a tumble, but took it on the chin as ‘just one of those things’. A great Friday evening with smiles all round 🙂
Helsby results:
Ray Clarke – 16:42 season best
Ben Tumilty – 17:30 season best
Les Dash – 17:51 PB
Al Garnett – 18:53 PB
Rob Fernyhough – 18:54 PB
Phil Wood – 19:51 PB
Joey Kelly – 22:06 PB
Jonathan Whitby – 22:29 PB
Ian Peers – 22:37 PB
Trevor Lewis – 23:19
Lauren Cooke – 23:10 season best
Sarah Larkin – 24:11 season best
Carol Shaw – 24:14
Lucy Mills – 25:12
Aidan Larkin – 30:45 season best
We should also mention the Firelighter and Ring of Fire ultra marathons that we had some amazing results in over the weekend……….we haven’t talked about this in this round-up just because it’s too hot off the press. But we’d love it if someone who participated could write us a report (and hopefully some great pics too) so that we can include it in the next edition.
Looking Forward – Borders League Volunteers & Northern Relays Women’s Team – HRC needs its Green Army!!!
Couple final shout-outs:
Firstly, the Borders League gets going again on Sunday 29th September. For the first time in several years, Helsby are hosting the race! There’s been a ton of work gone on behind the scenes for us to get the race organised, but we do need 20 volunteers on the day from 9am to ensure this goes ahead. This doesn’t have to be yourself (e.g. if you’re running but you’ve got a family member coming to watch, could they marshall for us?) And there will be some volunteer roles (such as course set up) which’ll allow running too – the sign up sheet is here:
And secondly, we are almost sorted for teams for the forthcoming relays. The one exception is for the Northern Relays at Blackpool on Saturday 21st September: our women’s team is still 1 runner short. We need 1 more woman to come forward otherwise we won’t be able to field a team, which would be a great shame. Don’t worry about whether you’re fast enough, the race is open to all standards and the main thing is we can field a team! Just contact Lauren Cooke either on Lauren.h.cooke@gmail.com or through the club Whatsapp groups.
Blog team signing off til next time…..Ian M & Chris L