News

With many mass participation running events being cancelled this year, converting Hilly Helmet to a virtual event was a tough decision but the only choice if we were going to be able to try to continue to back Brain Tumour Support again in 2020. Those already entered have had their entries converted to the virtual event with some stating they were happy for us to just donate their entry fee to the charity this year.

With no actual event to marshal this year we’ve been able to open virtual entries up to include junior runners for the first time, as well as offering specially priced family entries.

We’re pleased to report numbers are doing well with almost 90 signed up and it would be great to push this number as high as we can again this year. Please remember as it is a virtual event this year you can take part in your own neighbourhood at a time that suits you, and don’t forget your helmet! (and your camera) We’ve four best helmet prizes up for grabs for the adult male and female and the juniors too, so give it your best shot.

As usual, we’re indebted to our event partners, all of whom provided funds towards this years’ event. We’ve been in discussion with them all and received confirmation they all plan to back us once again next year while also picking up the tab for this year.

They are:

Stark Ecology

The West Wilts Magazine

Mike Sargeant Stone Wall Services

Remember, everyone taking part this year will get a special pottery memento which will be a little different to previous years. In addition, the first 200 sign ups will also get a drinks bottle provided by Wessex Water. Mementos and bottles will be distributed once restrictions on social distancing are reduced. With mementos ordered normally arriving in August we should start delivering them around that time. Please remember to send us photos of you taking part in your helmets so we can share them. We’ve already had them start coming in and as expected there are some great efforts among them.

All runs/walks are to be completed by Wednesday August 12th, the date we originally scheduled for the run this year. Pictures and proof of participation can be emailed to robin@orangehelmetevents.org.uk

As we reach the end of week 8 of the lock down we have started to see restrictions lifting but mass gatherings remain a no no and it’s likely to continue to be that way for some time yet. This was a big factor when making the decision to switch our annual August event to a virtual one and we’re encouraged with a good few sign ups over the last week or so.

With the event also open to juniors for the first time this year we were thrilled to get our first ever junior signups this week. Since then we’ve had more interest in junior entries so we hope to see them increasing the junior entry in due course. Don’t forget, we’ve a  family ticket on offer this year too for two adults and two children at a discounted price over individual entries. Please contact us via email at robin@orangehelmetevents.org.uk  for a code to enable entry for all junior entrants, family ticket or otherwise.

Meanwhile, how are your helmets coming on? We’re looking forward to seeing the first of our Helmeteer pictures, will you be the first? Don’t forget, there are prizes for the best male and female seniors and junior helmets. It’s pretty warm out there for activities in helmets right now, so please take care and make sure you don’t over heat.

Back in 2015-2016 Hilly Helmet founder Robin-Mark wore his helmet all the time including while running and had no choice about it as he waited for the titanium plate to be fitted where the top of his skull had been removed. As you can see in the picture at the top, he got warm while doing so on occasion, hence why we’ve kept the distance down to one that is manageable for everybody. Robin’s longest run in the Helmet was the Bath Half in 2016 where he set himself the target of under 90 minutes, completing it in 89:56. We hope you enjoy taking part in our virtual event this year, please tell you friends all about it so they can get involved too.

After having to cancel this years run set for 12th August, we’re delighted to announce you can now enter our virtual run Hilly Helmet 4 ‘The Lock Down Run’ via the Entry Central link provided.

There’s no doubt raising money for Brain Tumour Support will be more challenging than ever but we’re hopeful you’ll be there to help us once again. We’re already planning for next year and our 5th anniversary run to which you’re all invited of course!

Don’t forget you can get the whole family involved this year, please take a look at our prices. All entrants will get one of our legendary pottery mementos with the first 200 entrants also receiving a drinks bottle.

We hope you can join us and look forward to seeing your entries coming in followed by your pictures and fantastic helmets once you’ve completed it. Don’t forget to follow government guidelines while taking part. Thank you.

http://www.entrycentral.com/thehillyhelmetchallenge

This year Covid-19 has affected all our lives like we never imagined possible. With our plans for August we have watched and waited to ensure we made the right decision regarding the holding of this years’ event.

In light of the current situation in the UK we have seen most if not all mass participation events of all types either cancelled or optimistically postponed to the last quarter of the year. We’ve had to ask ourselves a few questions.

Will mass participation events be allowed by August?

Will Leighton Recreation Centre even be open?

Will Westbury cricket club be playing at the venue due to postponed fixtures thus giving us nowhere to base the event?

Having considered these and other factors, it is with a heavy heart we have decided not to proceed with Hilly Helmet as a mass participation event on the night of 12^th August this year. Sadly the very nature of the event means a postponement is not possible, but we’ve an alternative plan!

Hilly helmet was created to bring a fun night of running to everyone and help a charity that offers support to all those affected by the diagnosis of a brain tumour. For the last 3 years your support through Hilly Helmet has been nothing short of fantastic. Like all charities, Brain Tumour Support has been hit really hard by the pandemic with donations down by around 50% and opportunities to hold fund raising events reduced to virtually nil. Meanwhile the diagnoses of brain tumours do not stop and the services they provide to those affected are still needed as much as ever.

We’ve been warmed by the generosity of entrants who have been in touch over the last few weeks wondering if our event would still be going ahead with all those enquiring stating they were happy for us to pass their entry money to Brain Tumour Support and we’re truly grateful for this selfless approach to things from you.

We know many of our Helmeteers enjoy preparing their headgear in advance so for one year only and to help Brain Tumour Support at their toughest time ever, we’d like you to still run for them in a virtual run, The Lock Down Helmet, and don’t forget to run in your helmet!

You’ll be able to fit this in any time at your convenience over a time period we’ll be announcing very soon and we’ll be changing our event on Entry Central to recognise it will now be organised in this way. If you’ve already entered, if your helmet is ready to go you can do your activity as soon as you like and let us have the details and pictures of your run as soon as you can. You should have received an email from us today if you’re already entered into this years event.

Entries will still be via Entry Central once set up and we’d like you to run or walk for 4 ¼ miles, about the distance Hilly Helmet is and wear your best helmet to do it, running or walking it in your own neighbourhood as per government guidelines. If you can find a hill of some sort, please do incorporate it but we understand not everybody may be able to do so. All those who take part will get one of our legendary pottery mementos with unique artwork to remember the occasion. Additionally, if you were on your hat trick run for us this year you’ll still get your hat trick badge too.

We’re also encouraging juniors to take part this year by offering family entries to get the whole family involved. Of course we expect you to accompany any juniors you sign up and all entrants MUST respect social distancing as you take part. Please also ensure any juniors are capable of taking part and not over exerting themselves by doing so.

We’ll be awarding prizes as follows:

Best helmets for male and female entrants

Best Junior male and female entrants.

When you’ve done your run or walk we’d like you to send us a photo of your watch or Strava or whatever app you use AND a picture of you in your helmet, in fact send us all the pictures you like and we’ll post them up on our twitter or Facebook feeds so we can decide who the prize winners are. A point to note is that production of mementos has already been geared to a delivery in August so you may be waiting until then for yours. We’re in talks with the pottery to work towards an earlier  delivery if possible but this will be affected by demand. Thank you for understanding our time frames on this.

We’ve found ourselves in a really difficult position this year and really hope we have offered a satisfactory alternative to our annual event. Hilly Helmet has given everyone taking part some great nights since 2017 and we hope you can continue to support us this year. We’re sure 2021 will be some party and you’ll all be invited as usual.

Many Thanks for your continued support.

Robin-Mark Schols

 

 

The most important part of our event is our people. Our Helmeteers, our volunteers, our backers and everyone who helps make it a success and put a smile on everybodys’ face and without you we’d have nothing. It seems it’s mutual after you voted for us to get an award after letting everyone know how much you rate us on the website Racecheck and we have enjoyed three great years supporting the charity we strive to help, Brain Tumour Support .

Like you, we’re watching world health events unfold and it is clear at this stage nobody really knows how long current events are going to last for. We’ve all seen or heard various statements from government departments and other bodies including event organisers putting back or cancelling events due to happen over the next 4 -6 weeks while it is recommended we all scale down on our socialising to help reduce the spread of the corona virus. Of course we have to consider whether this is going to affect our event his year, even though there are still around five months until it takes place.

Currently we are still planning to hold Hilly Helmet 2020 in August and hoping we’ll all enjoy another great evening again this year. In the meantime, we’ll continue to monitor the news and keep you informed of any steps we need to take along the way. We hope you’re all able to deal with the situation calmly and stay safe and well and we look forward to seeing you in August.

 

After being concerned for some time at the amount of plastic used at a good number of events, it seemed like it was time to try to do something rather than keep supplying the throw away bottles we have for the last three events. After approaching representatives of Wessex Water at the start of the year, they have very kindly donated reusable for every finisher of our event this year which you’ll be able to fill at the finish line at this years event.  We hope you enjoy receiving them and make good use of them. We’re also not going to have plastic goody bags this year as well as doing away with the plastic sleeves the mementos come in in an effort to cut waste as much as we can.

Apologies for the site being pretty quiet so far this year. It doesn’t mean nothing has been happening and it was great to meet with Beth from the Community Department of Wessex Water today. We’re still finalising details with another prospective event partner and would still welcome one or two more. If you or your company would like to be involved with this years’ event, please email robin@orangehelmetevents.org.uk  to discuss this further.

 

Don’t forget, if you want to be in the draw for the Corsham 10k spot for their event this year, you’ll need to be entered into our event by close of play tomorrow. It’s a popular event that normally sells out, so get yourself in the hat. Remember, all our race entries donated as prizes will be drawn from entrants during the build up this year, so the earlier you enter, the more draws you’ll be in with a chance of winning from. It’ll also give everyone more time to plan their year so they can do the race hopefully. We’ll announce the winner on Sunday then announce the next prize that will be drawn along the way to event night in August.

As we near the end of January preparations are well under way for this years’ event. We’re thrilled to have an award for our 2019 event but won’t be sitting resting on our laurels as we continue to work hard to bring you another enjoyable evening this August.

We’re delighted to announce some of our progress so far.

Kyna Software, Stampede Sports, Stark Ecology and The West Wilts Magazine are all joining us as event partners once again this year along with Wessex Water for their first year who will be providing reusable water bottles (and water) for all our runners on the night.

Gary Daniell of GD Sports Massage and Personal Training will once again be providing pre and post event massage on the night with all funds raised going to our fund raise. We’re still working with a couple of other potential partners, more news once things are confirmed. If you’d like to join us as an event partner, please do get in touch via the email address at the foot of this item

Once again, we’re indebted to our good friends at various running clubs and organisations associated with them for donations of various prizes for all our entrants, a comprehensive list of these donors will be published in due course.

We’re handling the distribution of some of these slightly differently this year. There will be the usual race bib draw but all prizes of race places will be allocated to entrants before the night of the event over the lead up months as some of the events take place before ours and with some longer distances winners may well benefit from extra notice so they can start their traiming. Please watch this space and our social media feeds on Facebook and Twitter for more information. Once you’re signed up for Hilly Helmet 2020 you’re automatically in the draw for all the prizes, the first of which is a place in the Corsham Running Club St Georges 10k in April. The winner for that prize will be announced at the end of February, so still plenty of time to get signed up and in the draw if you’re not already.

We’re also once again holding a raffle of other donated prizes like chocolate and bottles etc with tickets available on the night. If you’d like to donate any prizes to that please let us know via a message to robin@orangehelmetevents.org.uk  or contact us via social media if that is easier for you.

Please remember, every penny raised will benefit the charity Brain Tumour Support who will also be there on the night congratulating you at the finish line. If you’re not running but would like to donate you can do so via our Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/braintumoursupport/robinmarkruns

Finally, if you’re not able to take part you’re very welcome to come along and join the atmosphere and if you would like to help, please let us know in advance and we’ll see if we can find you a job.

Helmeteer Ken Pyper took on the ‘Beyond the Far Side’ event held in Westbury last Saturday, another event entry donated to us by our friends at Crooked Tracks Wiltshire. The event takes in some parts of the Hilly Helmet course offering 24, 12, 6 hour and 10k event options. Oh, and mud, plenty of mud, much more than we have ever offered.

Runners taking the 6 hour option or upwards do laps, coming in for rests between as they wish. Ken took on the 12 hour event, completing over 37 miles and almost 6000 feet of climb over the laps he was able to complete over the time available. “I really enjoyed the challenge, and even managed a smile at the end” said Ken.

Once again, we’d like to thank Crooked Tracks Wiltshire donating the prize and for donating to our event once again this year for the 4th year running. Watch out for the prize in our draw leading up to our event in August.

   

After a lot of anticipation the Racecheck website finally revealed their award winners for 2019 this morning. We are thrilled to announce thanks to you, our voters, they have awarded The Hilly Helmet Challenge 2019 with a Gold Award!

Race founder Robin-Mark Schols said, ” I remember waiting for my plate to be fitted where part of my skull had been removed and running around in the helmet feeling sorry for myself but thinking, hey I could turn this into a race and fund raise. It felt like a daft idea but I’m thrilled with how with everybodys’ help and generosity this event has gone from strength to strength over the years it’s been held from that idea. We’ve had fantastic support from various event partners who have helped fund it and been supported with such enthusiasm by all those who have signed up to run each year and had so many prizes donated too. On top of that, we have a great team who love to help get it on and it’s just made the whole thing a pleasure.”

Robin continued, “We decided we should see if we could get some recognition for the event so asked our runners if they would rate it. The response we got was brilliant and that’s what makes this award so special. Races aren’t cheap, so it’s only fair we can get honest opinions on the ones we’re interested in. I’d like to thank everybody who has taken the trouble to rate our event. We’ve had 64 ratings in total, with 15 on the last day before the totals were counted, so clearly it also means a lot to our Helmeteers too.”

Hilly Helmet finished with a rating of 4.94 out of 5 across the different criteria people were asked to vote on and were just .1 of a mark away from being voted Top Rated off road event of 2019 in the face of some very experienced opposition. You can take a look at the final results via the link below. Remember too, entries are now open and all entrants are placed into a prize draw from the moment they sign up, so what are you waiting for?

Enter Hilly Helmet Here

Racecheck Awards List