News

Hilly Helmet founder Robin-Mark Schols was very pleased to meet with the CEO of Brain Tumour Support Tina Mitchell Skinner last month. Robin has his own ‘Champion Fund’ for the charity and the charity set up the meeting to present him with a certificate to mark his fund passing the £20000 mark. Starting with a fund target of £5000, Robin has raised the target several times and has been able to achieve this via several fund raisers and of course via Hilly Helmet.

“It was very nice to meet up and receive the award”, said Robin. He continued, “Once people got used to me running it became harder to achieve sponsorship as it had become what I do, so I was keen to find another way to help raise money and created Hilly Helmet. I’m delighted at the support it has enjoyed over the years both from runners and backers, with all event expenses being covered by generous event partners for every event I have put on since it first started. The success of the event, including winning an industry recognised ‘runners rated’ award in 2019 has surpassed anything I could have imagined. I’d like to thank everyone who has helped with Hilly Helmet over the 6 years we have run it, event partners, donors, volunteers both on the night or at other times behind the scenes and of course, our amazing Helmeteers who take part and help us raise the money we do. Without all the support and goodwill the event would be nothing and that’s why we keep a good eye on the little things. We look forward to seeing you once again this year on Wednesday August 10th at Leighton Recreation Centre in Westbury with race start at 7pm.

 

 

We’re delighted to announce our new run club, Hilly Helmeteers. As a Strava user you’ll be able to connect with other Helmeteers or trail runners in our club and see how your weekly mileage, elevation and hours on feet stacks up against fellow club members. It’s free to join, so don’t delay, and sign up today at the link below.

https://www.strava.com/clubs/1044984

Hi Helmeteers, it’s been a few weeks now tying up loose ends and settling our bills but we’ve finally been able to get the final total off to Brain Tumour Support.

Thank you all so much for once again supporting our event as we celebrated our fifth year, an event we had to get on as we came out of such a tough time after the lock down of 2020.

It was great to see 175 entrants signed up this year though not all were able to run on the night due to a variety of reasons, with some still getting in touch with details of their virtual effort. If you’ve done a virtual effort and not yet received a memento, please do get in touch.

Around 130 actually ran on the night led home by Ed the Viking for the men and Beth for the ladies. Our friend David from our HH cousin Hazelbury Hurrah! was the winner of the best helmet as he sported a peacock design.

We are thrilled to once again be in a position where Brain Tumour Support will be receiving a total very close to £5000 from us this year. As you may or may not know, at our event 100% of your entry fees is able to go to the charity thanks to all our event partners who fund all our expenses. In addition this year, we got a real boost to our pot with a corporate donation of $2500US plus two runners who together raised almost £500 in personal sponsorship. So the total? £4900 plus some bits of clanky change, thank you all so much, we’re delighted to come back so strongly from having to go virtual in 2020 and once again really appreciate our Helmeteers and our helpers who keep coming back to make this such a fun evening.

Big thanks also go to our ever present photographer Martin who has taken such great photos at all our events which are all available to download for free at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/downlands/albums/72157719672819836?fbclid=IwAR3K3AbrS-_2afc8wGoK1LYhv7wXWLkPFPLZLlbRUHIXFvRDMsASa8ER8gU

The recreation centre proved once again to be a great venue and further enhanced by an outside bar and bbq put on for us by the cricket club.

Lets not forget our event partners too, without whose backing we couldn’t do this, Kyna Software, Stampede Sports, Stark Ecology, Mike Sargeant Dry Stone Walling, Beaverteeth Services, and of course The West Wilts Magazine, all of which have supported us multiple times since we started in 2017.

We were really grateful for all the lovely comments from our participants too. We were delighted to collect an award in 2019 based on our Helmeteers feedback, so if you enjoyed yourselves again and would like to let everyone know, we’d be very grateful for your time leaving feedback via this link at the Racecheck website. Who knows, you might even win us another. https://racecheck.com/races/the-hilly-helmet-challenge/?fbclid=IwAR27YGKOROHqcmuOH7zRBQV7hiOt6Op_QSxMrHB3QHye4Lyvwzv-AJdUya4

We appreciate these things can take a little time, but your positive feedback really helps let others know how much you enjoyed our event.

So that’s it for 2021. We’re now planning for Hilly Helmet 6, so get your diary out. Wednesday August 10th is the date we’ll be aiming at and we’ll be hoping to have entry open by the end of the year. Maybe a nice seasonal present? Thanks again, we hope to see you again next year.

We closed online entries this morning and with almost 180 sign ups, we’re really looking forward to welcoming you to the 5^th Anniversary Hilly Helmet Challenge tomorrow night. We’re very pleased to be supporting the charity Brain Tumour Support once again this year and welcome members of the charity including founder Tina Mitchell-Skinner who will be starting the event.

Challenge has certainly been the theme of this year as we have battled in the face of so much uncertainty as to whether we would even be able to hold an ‘on the night’ event at all, so we initially offered the event as a virtual one with the hope we would be able to hold one on the night.  To that end, some of our entrants have already done a virtual run of the course due to their own circumstances, some being pinged by the track and trace app so having to isolate or simply for another reason, but everyone entered who takes part virtually or on the night will get their unique event memento.

Final instructions for all runners taking part on the night

Below are the final instructions for the event, please take the time to read the contents so that you are ready to enjoy yourself tomorrow night.

Registration

Fine weather is predicted, so registration and number collection will be from the area by the cricket scoreboard on the far side of the cricket field. Look for the yellow signs and flags.

On the night entry

If you’re planning to enter on the night please come early as it will be busy and you will need to complete an entry form. On the night entries will be priced at £19 or £17 for affiliated runners. Please do your best to bring the correct money as we won’t have any change.

Registration will OPEN AT 5:00pm and close at 6:40pm SHARP to allow us to do the safety briefing. 

Number Swaps

Please DO NOT swap your number or give your place to another participant without our knowledge. We’re happy to do a number swap, please just tell us. If you do want to do this, please get to us early to allow us enough time to make the changes to the start list. Replacement runners will also be expected to complete an entry form.

Parking

It can be a problem, so if you can walk or cycle to the event or can lift share, please help us to be a good neighbour by doing so. If you live further afield and need to drive, there is plenty of parking at the public car park opposite the petrol station on Warminster Road which is within easy walking distance. As Westbury has had a lot of rain, the grass at the recreation centre may be too wet to accommodate parking this year and we won’t know until the day if we’ll be able to park on this area. Please plan to park in the local car park as regular recreation centre users will be expecting to park at the centre while they use the facilities as normal. We’ll be very grateful if you plan to arrive in enough time to park considerately and not block the residential roads up around the recreation centre.

Safety on the course

We have seen a lot of heavy rain in the last few days which means there are likely to be muddy areas which the sun can’t dry out in time. Bearing this in mind we’d recommend wearing shoes suitable for slippery conditions that you don’t mind getting dirty. We also strongly recommend you take your time both going up and coming down the bridleway as it can get very slippery and it’s a tough surface to land on and we don’t anyone to hurt themselves.

Please also remember that headphones/earphones must not be used during the race or briefings. Marshals are there for your safety and it is imperative you can hear their instructions, as well as hear others using the route while taking part.

Refreshments

We’re very grateful to the cricket club for providing the bar and bbq being offered at the finish. There is plenty of space for everyone to spread out and have a relaxing drink afterwards.

Presentation

There will be a short presentation of prizes at 8 o’clock when we hope the last participant will have crossed the finish line. The best helmet prize will be presented once everyone has finished. There is no raffle this year. Results will be available on www.orangehelmeteventsorg.uk as well as a link on our Facebook page as soon as possible following the event.

Photography Will take place at this event. Images of you can be removed on request.

COVID19

Please DO NOT attend the event if you have displayed any Covid symptoms in the 10 days in the run up to the event, have been instructed to isolate or have tested positive.  (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection). Whilst social distancing rules are now being relaxed, please respect the space of those who still wish to keep a distance on the night.

Permit

This event has been approved, insured and licenced by the Association of Running Clubs.  We also have Wiltshire Council’s consent to use the route as planned.

After the uncertainty over any kind of group activity over the last 15 months, we need your help in getting the word back out that we’re back for our 5th anniversary event this August.

We’ve previously managed to promote the event through social media and by issuing flyers at running events and having great support from the local  parkruns who have helped encourage runners to turn out in helmets at their events in the lead up to our event.

This year we’re mindful parkrun are making their own cautious return and we don’t think it’s fair to distract them from the business of that as they look to re-establish the regular Saturday morning events. We’ll be looking to take part at them like before once they’ve returned and it would be great if some of you were to join us. In the meantime, anything you can do to let people know about our 5th anniversary event would be great. Remember, people thought it’s that good they voted for us to get an award in 2019 and with 80 Helmeteers now signed up we’ve room for just another 120 to reach capacity at the moment and historically it’s this time of year the places really start to see quickly.

The starting gun will fire at 7pm on Wednesday 11th August at Leighton Recreation Centre in Westbury, so if you’ve not entered yet please do and please don’t forget to tell your friends!

With the date for this years’ Hilly Helmet set for 11th August, we’re delighted to announce our confirmed event partners for this year.

Please take a look below at who our backers are and if you’re a small business (or a big one) and would also like to be involved in offering support be it as an event partner, sponsor or to offer goody bag fillers, please do get in touch with us via email at  robin@orangehelmetevents.org.uk

We’ve also been very lucky to have donations of items to raffle which helps raise that little extra on the night, so if you’d like to donate a raffle prize, please let us know via the same email.

Event partners are a crucial element to the financial success of Hilly Helmet as we strive to raise as much as possible for the charity Brain Tumour Support. Our event has numerous expenses to cover before we are able to donate anything to the charity and having people willing to cover these really is simply fantastic and we couldn’t do it without them. Additionally, we’ve had donations towards equipment like hi viz bibs our fantastic marshals wear and two feather banners to add to the image of the event which we also recognise are very generously donated and greatly appreciated.

We’re very lucky to have loyal event partners who have supported us year on year and this year once again we’d like to welcome back the following partners helping us meet our expenses so we can pass on as much of your entry fee as possible to the charity Brain Tumour Support for the 5th year.

Kyna Software provide software engineering solutions to the trade and have supported us right from the start with both finance and a results service on the night. Meanwhile they also developed and host our website so we can keep everyone updated with the latest news regarding our events.

Stampede Sports are a local running and cycling events company who are back for their fifth time providing us with event organisation advice as well as funding our ARC memberships to ensure we can obtain an event permit.

Stark Ecology are another of our valued partners backing us for our fifth year. They offer practical ecological advice and solutions to building projects both trade and residential.

The West Wilts Magazine is published by Wired Publishing and they’e back supporting us once again. They produce a local handbook promoting local business and peppered with interesting articles showcasing local events and attractions amongst other subjects.

Mike Sargeant Dry Stone Walling Services do exactly what the name suggests. New projects or refurbishment of historic walls needing rebuilding are amongst what is on offer and we’re very pleased to have them backing us once again this year.

 

As our award winning event night gets closer, we’ve some news regarding the  award for the best helmet worn to take part on the night for the event.

We’re fantastically lucky to have our event supported by generous people who cover the  event expenses, those who donate prizes for our raffle and others who are generous with their time who help by volunteering on the night as marshals or by doing things along the way, all of which have helped to make the event as popular as it has been.

It’s never right to pick one person from those who collectively work so hard for our success but after we lost one of our biggest supporters last year we felt it right his name should be remembered at this years’ event.

David Griffiths left us in December and has left a big hole to fill. He was a prolific volunteer at the Southwick parkrun as well as for his running club and as he felt he still had time, also was a massive help with Hilly Helmet. He would print off flyers to put on cars or give out at local run events and parkruns so we could get the word out there and even got posters up in shops to further the publicity. On the night, he’d be the first there, getting stuck in putting up gazebos and generally ensuring nothing would be left to chance and generally supporting wherever he could. He’d marshal the cars into the event and once done would be off up the bridleway to marshal and encourage our Helmeteers on their journey up the hill then congratulate them on their way back down. He’ll be missed very much as he had become a big cog in the wheels of the event organisation since we first started in 2017.

After consultation with his family, we’re delighted to announce this years Best Helmet Award will be named in his memory with his family selecting the winner on the night. We hope you go to your usual trouble to come up with something amazing once again this year to have a chance of taking the prize yourself.

The event will take place on Wednesday 11th August at the Leighton Recreation Centre at Westbury as usual. Are you completing your hat trick this year? If so we’ll award you with your hat trick badge as you cross the finish line Have you been with us from the start? We’ll also be giving a little extra to each of our participants taking part in their 5th Hilly Helmet and of course, everyone gets their unique locally made memento anyway, so we look forward to seeing you there!

Entries are now open and available on Entry Central, so please head over and get signed up via the link www.entrycentral.com/thehillyhelmetchallenge

Hi everyone.

We’ve been very keen to finally get our event for this year live so you could get your entry in. In our haste to do so sadly we overlooked the fact that as a condition of us being issued with a race permit we are obliged to give a £2 discount to affiliated club members which is what we based the £12 entry fee we announced on.

We’re pretty sure we charged £12 last year for the virtual event, so that was what we had in mind. With many of our Helmeteers being club members this won’t affect you as you’ll get the £12 price quoted but for non affiliated members it will be £14. We apologise for this error but of course, all this money goes to charity and not to a race event organisation anyway.

We’re confident Hilly Helmet continues to offer great value at £14 and hope to see you signing up and organising your summer running to include our event before all the other events start to scrabble for dates having already missed out on the early spring slots due to the pandemic. There are bound to be clashes and we hope you choose us.

Please head over to Entry Central to sign up, https://www.entrycentral.com/thehillyhelmetchallenge

After previously announcing our plans to hold a virtual event again in 2021, after making some enquiries, we are delighted to announce we are now gearing up for a big ‘on the night’ event on August 11th.  We’re still keeping the virtual option open for adults and our juniors as some of our Helmeteers could be on holiday and sadly as our current event insurance does not cover us to allow juniors to run on the night we wouldn’t like them to miss out.

Our original concerns this year were the availability of the venue as well as any conditions that may be imposed on us in addition to those normally applied by the council and other bodies, but after positive conversations with those stakeholders these fears have been allayed, enabling us to take our plans forward for an on the night event once again.

We’re doing all we can to make it the best ever as we hit our 5th anniversary and hope to bring you another great night of fun and running.

Of course, it all hinges on the transition from lock down going smoothly so we do reserve the right to convert all entries to a virtual event if we find ourselves still hampered by any Covid-19 restrictions still being in place at the time our event is due to take place.

Please continue to watch for our announcements on here and on our social media feeds so we can keep you informed of any changes if we need to.

 

 

Hilly Helmet 5 is open for business!

Current regulations mean we’re having to go virtual again this year but we really appreciate your support for our little event and hope you’ll join in and share your run with us again this year as we bang the drum to raise money for the charity Brain Tumour Support for the fifth year. We’re open from now until 11th August for you to get your effort in. Hopefully our course will be available to run once restrictions are lifted but you can run wherever you like once again this year, don’t forget to wear a helmet and try to include a hill!

We’re thrilled to have DB Max helping us by offering a results service and facility for you to print off your own number to wear when you do your run, who will be number 1?

Being a virtual event once again means juniors and indeed whole families can take part together. We’ve special rates for juniors and a discounted family ticket available, please message us for further details.

Remember, everyone that signs up gets a unique event memento and if it’s your third time we’ll also give you one of our coveted Hat Trick badges. On top of that, if you’ve been with us every year since we started, you’ll also receive an extra special 5^th anniversary thank you to mark that too, PLUS, don’t forget there are prizes for best adult and best junior helmet worn to take part.

If you’d like to raise money for Brain Tumour Support while you take part we could even refund your entry fee, please contact us for more details.

We realise there are lots of virtual events to choose from and hope you choose to support us once again this year. Happy running and we can’t wait to see those helmets once again!

Entry is now open here https://www.entrycentral.com/thehillyhelmetchallenge

If you don’t feel able but would still like to donate, we still have our just giving page open if you wish to use it. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hillyhelmet4

Good luck everyone, we look forward to seeing your entries coming in. Please contact us if you’ve any enquiries about the event or if you would like to be an event partner this year. robin@orangehelmetevents.org.uk