Helen Russell

World Champion Quadrathlete and Duathlete

 

 
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Helen Russell - About Me

 
Helen comes from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire and can often be found either running on the Lickey Hills, cycling around the roads of Worcestershire or paddling on the River Avon in Evesham where she is now based.

As a child Helen was a member of the Bromsgrove and Redditch Athletic Club but gave up running during her A-levels. She didn‘t return to the sport until in her mid-twenties when she realised that a sedentary lifestyle was not good for her health. Helen‘s first triathlon was in 2006 and as a late comer to triathlon she has shown that it is never too late to regain fitness and that if you work hard enough you can achieve unimagined success.

She has won a number of international and national age group titles, including World and European Duathlon Champion and European Triathlon Champion.

Helen put her triathlon ambitions on hold in 2015 to take part in a challenge that was more important for her than winning medals. Ex England footballer and cancer survivor Geoff Thomas asked Helen to be one of only two women to participate in Le Tour-One Day Ahead. The challenge saw eleven riders cycle the whole route of the 2015 Tour de France one day before the pros to raise over £1m for Cure Leukaemia to help fund clinical trials and research nurses at the QE Hospital, Birmingham. She continues to combine fundraising with competing and in 2017 raised £2,000 for The Air Ambulance Service by cycling up the three roads of Mont Ventoux in a single day and organising a number of fundraising events. In 2018 and 2022 she raised funds for the West Bromwich Albion Foundation as part of the Baggies Big Bike Challenges.

In 2017 Helen turned her attentions to Quadrathlons (swim/kayak/bike/run) and since then has won the World Sprint and World Middle Distance Quadrathlon Championships and World Cup Series in her age group, as well as being crowed the overall British Champion four times and British Trophy Series winner three times. In 2023 she was first woman overall in the European Quadrathlon Championships.

Helen took on the new challenge of Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP) racing in 2022 and in her first season became the GBSUP National Distance Series Winner in the N1sco/Naish class.

Helen is also committed to increasing participation in sport and keen to help other athletes achieve success. She enjoys giving back to the local community who have supported her in the past by fundraising for charities and speaking at schools, community events and conferences. She also uses her national profile to promote equalities and fight discrimination in sport. In 2022 she became a British Canoeing She Paddles Ambassador and was also recognised as one of Cycling UK‘s ‘100 Women in Cycling.‘
 

 










 

Copyright Helen Russell 2023