A busy few weeks in the athletics community and Sarn Helen Runners were right in the thick of it!
Alexander Price is the latest Sarn Helen globetrotter having travelled to the beautiful city of Paris to compete in his first marathon and doing so in style recording a great time of 3:45:04.
The first race of the Red Kite Challenge 2024 Summer Series took place at Nant Yr Arian on Wed 17th April, as always a challenging but scenic route of 5 miles which saw a good number of runners take to the start line. This was definitely a great Night At The Races for Sarn Helen Runners with some impressive results. Dylan Lewis 3rd Male overall and 1st in M35 category in 32:08, Dee Jolly 1st Lady Overall and 1st in F35 category in 38:40, closely followed by Becky Atkinson who was 1st in the F45 category in 38:50, Glyn Price 1st in M55 in 37:07, Liz Pugh 2nd in F55 category in 49:57, Mike Davies 2nd in M55 in 38:34, Simon Hall 3rd M35 in 34:39, George Eadon 4th M35 in 37:29, great runs also achieved by Tony Hall and Mick Taylor.
Sarn Helen junior/youth runners also had a succesful night with Elis Herrick 2nd , Evelyn Eadon 3rd, Jacob Hall 4th, Maddy Eadon 4th in their respective age categories whilst Molly Rose and Alaw Freeman posting good times.
The next race in the series will be at Hafod, Devil’s Bridge on the 8th May.
The 44th London Marathon was definitely a Super Sunday for Sarn Helen, 7 members travelled to London to compete in this iconic race on a fairly windy but dry day. All seven runners had stunning runs producing amazing finishing times with 4 achieving personal best times for their efforts.
Carwyn Davies 3:08:55, Mitch Readwin PB 3:59:12, Stephen Kenworthy achieved a massive 25 min PB in a time of 3:49:12,
Eleri Rivers PB 3:29:07, Delyth Crimes PB 3:46:11, Lou Summers 3:36:46 and Helen Willoughby 4:07:15.
Not content with just running, 5 Sarn Helen members competed in the Dyfi Dash Sprint Triathlon hosted by Cerist Triathlon club based in Machynlleth and all achieved great results, in particular Dylan Lewis who claimed 1st position overall in a supetb time of 1:03:08.
Pam Carter 1:28:54, Elinor Morgan 1:31:38, Claire Williams 1:38:32 and Corrina Robinson were all pleased with their finishing times.
The Red Kite Challenge is one of the toughest and most challenging trail races in Wales in one of the most stunning locations, attracting runners from across the country and beyond with runners having to negotiate several steep hills in the forest with lots of ups and downs on forest roads, tracks and trails. Sarn Helen runners again did themselves proud with Dylan Lewis finishing in 7th overall and 1st West Wales runner in 1:36:48, hot on his heels was Ollie George in his first race back following an episode of injury, finishing in a superb time of 1:38:06 and 9th overall. Geraint Thomas 2:26:40 and Michelle Billing was the sole female representative finishing in 2:39:55.
Gold Rush Coed Y Brenin took place on the same day as The Red Kite Challenge and 4 Sarn Helen runners competed in this equally challenging trail race with success again coming their way. Dylan Davies finished 5th overall and 1st in age category in a stunning time of 1:03, Steven Holmes was 4th in his age category with a fantastic time of 1:15 and Jane Holmes and Kerry Irwin Hall achieving great results.
Ian Williams took part in the Tour of Pembrokeshire Cycling Event, a 64 mile race achieving a superb 11th position out of 366 cyclists.
The Festival of Running was held in Newport on the 28th April comprising of Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K distances and Sarn Helen had runners in each of the races.
Competing in the Marathon were Mike Davies who ran a cracking race in 3:00:06, Arwyn Davies also running a fantastic race in 3:18:31 and Helen Willoughby running her second marathon in a week having done the London Marathon achieved an amazing time of 4:16:48.
2 runners took on the Half Marathon, George Eadon ran a superb race in 1:22:39 beating his previous time by 5 minutes and Sarah Puetz following an episode of injury which hampered her training plan still managed a great time of 2:10:58.
The 10K race saw Polly Summers claiming another PB in a stunning time of 38:47, Lou Summers produced another great run in 45:52, Kevin Jones running his first Half Marathon following a long episode of injury was pleased with his time of 47:50 and Liz Pugh was over the moon with her 3 minute PB in a time of 51:14.
Emma Palfrey ran her first race of the season taking on the Mid Cheshire 5k and finished 4 seconds short of her PB in an impressive time of 18:58.
The club would like to congratulate one of its junior members Dylan May John who has been selected to represent Team GB at the Junior Biathlete Championships to be held in Funchal, Madeira in July.