THE local Hilly Helmet charity race proved popular again as 120 runners turned up at the Leighton Recreation Centre on Wednesday 10th August and raised over £4,000 for Brain Tumour Support.
The Hilly Helmet, now in its sixth year, saw runners race just over four miles with an array of individually designed headgear aiming to win the prize for the best headgear.
Robin-Mark Schols, a keen marathon runner himself, created the event back in 2017 after his own experience of having to wear a safety helmet for a year following brain surgery complications. After permission from his specialist, he continued to run during that time and so based the event on that experience.
“I’m thrilled with how the event has endured throughout lockdown when we opted for a virtual event,” said Robin-Mark. “The participants, or ‘Helmeteers’ as I fondly call them, really do enter into the spirit of the evening and receive a warm welcome from the recreation centre. It’s more of a social evening than a race and everyone has fun on our local trails and the chance to enjoy a drink and the BBQ laid on afterwards by Westbury Cricket Club.”
Runners came from far and wide from Westbury to Scotland and across to Barking in Essex, such has the reputation of this event grown.
First finisher was Ed Knudsen, finishing in a brisk 26 minutes and 9 seconds with wife Gemma finishing as first lady in 35 minutes flat. The ‘Best Helmet’ winner was David Mackie from Corsham with George Sawyer finishing as first 15-18-year-old winner.
All winners received prizes created by the White Horse Pottery and all Helmeteers received a pottery memento for taking part.
The event picked up an industry recognised gold award from the event rating website Racecheck in 2019 and continues to receive great feedback. Earlier this year, Robin-Mark was awarded a certificate by the founder of Brain Tumour Support, Tina Mitchell-Skinner, for raising over £20,000 for them.
Robin-Mark added, “When I first organised this event, I expected it might do ok as a one off but people have just been so supportive and clearly look forward to running it year after year. The recognition is really nice, but I am just so glad I had the opportunity to turn a difficult life experience for me and my family into such a positive outcome to help support the charity and raise awareness while people have fun taking part.
“I couldn’t do any of this without my amazing team of volunteers who keep stepping forward year after year and of course the generosity of the event partners who, by covering all the expenses, ensures we are able to keep giving the charity a good donation every year.”
Hilly Helmet 7 is now being planned for 2023 with a provisional date of Wednesday August 9th.
