Massive Sarn Success in the annual Team Pursuits

Sarn Helen Running Club kicked off 2019 with a superb presence at the highly competitive 2019 Team Pursuits event held in Crymych on Jan 27th. A highlight of the south wales race calendar the one of a kind event is successfully organised by the onlineraceresults.co.uk team and composes of 60 teams, 5 runners to a team, all covering a 6.5 mile VERY hilly course. Results are simple; individual runners times are cumulated and the fastest team wins.

An all around fantastic event was held in Aberystwyth on December 9th where Sarn Helen Running Club were well represented at the annual Cambrian News 10k. Conditions were exceptionally cold and the icy wind saw runners pacing hard for PBs and catiogry positions. As well as being well represented the club members also ran great individual results and times;

A team of three men represented Sarn Helen with some brilliant results in the annual Tata Steel Richard Burton 10k on Sunday 4th October in Port Talbot. The relatively flat 10k boasts being one of the oldest events of its kind in wales and drew a large crowd of over 1500 runners. First to finish in the Sarn vest was a man going from strength to strength; Sion Price covered the 6.2 miles in a time of 34:34 and in a brilliant 12th place overall. A man who has completed of 50 marathons, David Thomas, ran a time of 51:29 and one of our top-notch Veterans, Graham Penn, ran a time of 1:04:12.

October 27^th marked the 36^th running of the Snowdonia Marathon, limited to 3000 places the event sold out within hours of opening for entries in December last year such is the popularity of this event, which sees runners from across the UK and beyond return time and again to test themselves on a road marathon that has the reputation of being the toughest in the UK.

As storm Callum wreaked havoc on most of Ceredigion through Fri and Sat Oct 12th and 13th in other areas of Briton things appeared to chug along like normal, with Sarn Helen making appearance throughout the weekend in Pontypool, York and in surprisingly warm sunshine in Aberystwyth. The Caulkett family travelled south to the outer edges of the Brecon Beacons national park where father, Ken Caulkett, gave a spectacular performance on his return from injury.

September 7th 2018 marked the 15th running of the Cardiff Half Marathon which has now become the second largest half marathon in the UK behind the great North Run. This year it also hosted the inaugural Commonwealth Half Marathon Championship, which attracted international athletes from across the globe.

Sunday September 16th dawned with torrential downpours, low laying mist and a line-up of nearly 100 runners ready to take on the climbs and trails of Pumsaint Trail half marathon and fun runs. Conditions as they were bode well for the runners but for the marshals and organisers, some of whom were out in the elements for near to 3 hours, it was pure cheer and commitment that kept them going.

Saturday 25th August can mean only one thing... Its Ras Beca day. A fantastically popular event for many a Sarn Helen runner there is no other race like it. Along the peaks of the Preseli Mountains the 5mile route encompasses bog, mountains, rocky climbs, a considerable amount of mud, and more bog. 8 Sarn Helen lined up for the start gun but only 7 runners finished as the youngest club member present, Tomos Morgans, made off to a good start but badly sprained his ankle half way through.