Autumn bumper newsletter

Featuring the Proctor Posterior Protector,  Helm Hill Abroad, Sick Bay News, Fell Fashion and more!  Now with added Madge!

British Relays - Grasmere

What a day, what a season. The final big event of the year delivery more twists and turns for those watching the 8 Helm teams competing across all the various categories. Great support was out in the event field and on the fell cheering the runners home.  Once again the all conquering Helm ladies triumphed in a tense afternoon as they held off Black Combe after the all important nav leg in thick flag. All teams seemed in contention for medals such is the strength in depth at the club at the moment with the open men 6th, MV40 2nd, FV40 4th (by 2 seconds!!) MV50 2nd, FV50 2nd (by 8 seconds!) Mixed team 2nd open 'B' 45th out of 250 teams...full results.

Hodgson Brothers Mountain Relay

The excitement had been building for months - who was in the teams? who's got injured? and who was paired with who? Fell running's premiere relay event was finally upon us. The Helm support was out in force on all the hills, cheering the teams on, in what proved a gripping day for runners and spectators alike. The men's, ladies', and mixed teams were all vying for podium places throughout the day in this most competitive of events. Finally, on the last hill the ladies leg four runners Kelli Roberts and Sharon Taylor took the lead having overturned an 8min deficit, to win the event for the first time. The men's team also in contention to the last, finished fourth and the mixed team made the podium with a brilliant 3rd place.  There were many great performances which you can analyse in the results here.

Ring of Steall

Amazing effort from Helm team, Cat Slater, Jenny Rice and Claire Wilson tackled the daunting  29km / 2,500m Skyrace® on technical & challenging terrain, with Jenny leading the trio home in 48th in an international field...

Cautley Horseshoe

It was a local race but not just for local people, with Cautley hosting the final championship race of the year. Although the women had already won the title, to go with the British, there were still individual honours to be decided and Kelli Roberts capped off a great year securing the title with her 2nd place on the day. Once again the team showed great strength in depth with Sharon coming in third and then Jo Rycroft, Bianca Dyer, and Janie Oates packing well. Bianca and Marie we think have 3rd places in the v40 and v50. Rob Jebb came in 3rd in what was a very tight finish, winning the v40 and we think 3rd in the open category.  Mark Addison was next back for Helm with Mike Ainsworth, Paul Aitken, and Adam Perry making up the team. Results here, and final championship standings to follow.

Meanwhile Sams Dixon and Gibbs represented the club in the 3 shires race with Sam Dixon coming in an impressive 12th.

Long stuff abroad with stunning scenery

Whilst we're enjoying the return to drizzle and clagged in fells, quite a few Helmies seem to be still enjoying summer racing with fantastic views ofstunning scenery on the continent, drinking great coffee and cold, strong lager. Some superb performances at some very, very long iconic races: Jim Mann takes an impressive 14th place at the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc traversing through France, Italy and Switzerland (171 kilometres (106 mi) 10,040 metres (32,940 ft!) ascent) in 23hrs, Carrie Gibson completed the 'tougher than UTMB' Ultra Trail Monte Rosa, an equally bonkers 170km /11,000m in 56hrs, whilst Paul Turner and Emma Jennings individually completed the Traces des Ducs de Savoie, a mere 123km/7000m ascent around the Savoie and Aosta regions in 26hrs ish. Hopefully we'll find out more about the joy of running for 24+hours in the next newsletter.

Autumn bumper newsletter!

Featuring a Junior update and a lot of what the seniors have been up to - they are pretty good really, in fact the women are the best in Britain!! Printed copies available Wednesday 7th Nov  

BOFRA round up ... very pleased to report that three of our juniors finished in the top 4 of their BOFRA categories this year; Alex Tallon 3rd, Henry Hunter 4th in U14 boys and Elise Tallon (pictured here at Embsay) 3rd in U12 girls.  

 It's cross country season!

The first of the Cumbria Athletics cross country series took place on Sat 29 Sept at Cockermouth. Results are on the Cumbria Athletics facebook page, and the second fixture will be on Sat 27 Oct at Hunter Hall school, Penrith. Meanwhile, the Mid-Lancs cross-country series kicked off at Ulverston on Sat 13 October; for this series, Helm juniors join forces with Kendal AC for a Helm-Kendal Junior composite team. See results on the Mid-Lancs website.    

Great Westmorland Trail Race, Sat 8 Sept - this penultimate 2018 club Junior Championship race in the hamlet of Crosby Garrett featured 25% Helm Hill juniors on the start lines as our youngsters battled towards final championship placings this year. Well done to all of them!  

Following Grasmere sports (see further details below), the Helm Hill Junior Championship table has been updated. There is close competition particularly amongst our younger juniors. See the races page for the link to the current junior club championship table, or click HERE. The last two races in the club championship for juniors are Great Westmorland Trail race at Crosby Garrett (September), and Arnside Knott in November.Ambleside sports, Farleton Knott and Arncliffe Gala BOFRA all saw a strong turnout of Helm Hill juniors, with tight competition particularly amongst our U14 boys. Grasmere sports, which was a Helm Hill junior championship race, saw great performances from Helm runners in the U9s boys and girls - 1st place for Cooper and for Isla- and the U12s. See results on www.grasmeresports.com

BOFRA...the series continues... Quite a number of our Junior runners have been attending the 2018 BOFRA races. Robert Askew is currently in second in the U17s, Henry Hunter and Alex Tallon 2nd and 4th respectively in U14s, Elise Tallon 7th in U12 girls. Well done to them all for the tenacity to keep racing regularly.