THE award-winning Hilly Helmet challenge will return to the Leighton Recreation Centre on Wednesday 6th August at 7pm to once again raise much-needed funds for the charity Brain Tumour Support.
The Hilly Helmet, which collected a RaceCheck Runners Rated Gold award for a second time at last year’s event, will see people from across the country come to Westbury to race in creative headgear. As this is the seventh year of the event, the organiser Robin-Mark Schols says the inspiration for runners for this year’s helmet is on the number seven – whether that be lucky seven, magnificent seven, or any other seven you can think of!
“There’s no rules on the themes of the helmets”, he said. “But as this is our seventh year any themed helmets on the number seven would be welcomed! Anything goes here and the judges will be on hand to give out a prize for the best helmet so do please get creative!
“It can be quite easy to make a helmet for the race if you want to join for the first time – you can use a bike or builders’ helmet as the base and then attach things directly to it to make the theme. People have been really rallying around the event this year so please do secure your place while you can.”
Last year Robin-Mark was awarded a BBC Radio Wiltshire Make A Difference Award as he has raised over £25,000 for Brain Tumour Support so far – he now wants to hit the £30,000 mark following this year’s event.
The four (ish) mile event was created by Robin-Mark and is based on his experience of having to wear a safety helmet for a year after suffering a brain infection following a brain tumour removal. Robin-Mark had to wear a helmet for almost a year to protect his head after having part of his skull removed, following an operation to address a brain infection.
He had previously told White Horse News that he used to get lots of funny looks from strangers when he was wearing the helmet, so he felt he needed to raise awareness of brain injuries as well as reducing any stigma associated with it.
To sign up for the race visit: www.entrycentral.com/thehillyhelmetchallenge
To find out more about Brain Tumour Support visit their website www.braintumoursupport.co.uk
Keep up to date with the Hilly Helmet by search ‘Hilly Helmet’ on Facebook and Twitter.