First blog of the year…
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! 2020 promises to be a fantastic year for runners!
Please please can people send in reports and updates for us to share in this blog. They can be short and sweet or longer as you wish. It’s really interesting to hear first hand what everyone has been up to. Send them to helsby-race-reports@outlook.com
Thanks very much to Debbie for this report…
Saturday saw me don my 2nd claim club vest and join 10 Delamere Spartans to partake in the Buff Winter Trail Half Marathon at Coed y Brenin, Snowdonia.
Despite having to scrape ice off the car before leaving home the weather for the run was absolutely glorious – cold, crisp, sunny with not a breath of wind – it certainly showed Coed y Brenin at it’s best.
Starting at the visitors centre the 1st mile is straight uphill – bit of a shock, but a sign of things to follow! The challenging race is approximately 8 miles of fire tracks and 5 miles single file woodland tracks with the uphills tough and the downhills very enjoyable. With feed stations at 6&10 miles providing drinks and torq gels it’s a very well organised race with encouraging marshals and very well marked.
At the finish you get a travel cup with either soup/tea or coffee and a genuine Buff buff.
If you like running in Delamere and you’re not afraid of hills I’d recommend this race – apparently they do a summer version where you’ve got the option of doing 10k, half or full marathon.
Thanks sounds tough but lovely!
Marshalls Eye View of the 4VHM
A misty day with some sunshine leaking through set the scene for the 4VHM. The conditions were ideal. Not too cold and roads frost free. The Helsby machine worked brilliantly setting everything up as planned.
I was posted at an early post then moved to the last marshalling post and therefore saw the runners when they were looking both fresh and exhausted. The atmosphere was fantastic at both positions. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves enormously.
The support for the runners was fantastic with a really vocal crowd at the last post cheering everyone on right till the end.
Our youngest helper!
Lots of support from clubs..
And lots of shouting and encouragement from the lovely marshalls..
I absolutely love helping at this event. It is wonderful to support such an inclusive race. Mick and Phil brought a smile to everyone’s face as they flew round.
Looking forward to next year already. Many thanks to the team of organisers who do a brilliant job every year.
That’s it … keep sending in your news…😀
Thanks.