{{Short description|Fell runner}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{More citations needed|date=March 2008}}
'''Helene Diamantides''' is a fell runner.
==Early life==
Helene Diamantides was born in 1964 in North Yorkshire,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.advendure.com/index.php/english/item/1015-helene-diamantides-whitaker-interview-to-advendurecom |title=ADVENDURE - Helene Diamantides Whitaker interview to Advendure.com |last=Τρουπής |first=Δημήτρης |website=www.advendure.com |language=el-gr |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref> but she spent most of her childhood outside England. She lived in Ghana and later in Greece where as a teenager she competed internationally in the pentathlon and her running ability was encouraged and developed. At sixteen, she completed her first marathon. In 1982 she moved to Durham to study for a degree in education. It was through the University of Durham's running club that she first began fell running. Over the next five years she competed in various fell races, including the Karrimor International Mountain Marathon.
==Fell running achievements==
In 1987 Diamantides completed her first Bob Graham Round (BG): to run {{convert|66|mi|km}} over 42 Lake District peaks within 24 hours.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/features/12_female_uk_hill_runners_who_have_set_the_pace-9928 |title=12 Female UK Hill Runners Who Have Set the Pace |website=www.ukhillwalking.com |date=29 November 2017 |language=en |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref> Later that year she and fellow fell-runner Alison Wright went to Nepal to attempt to break the record for running from Everest Base Camp to Kathmandu. This is a {{convert|188|mi|km|adj=on}} route which includes {{convert|42000|ft|m}} of ascent. Both women completed the route in a record of 3 days, 10 hours.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=chMgCgAAQBAJ&dq=Diamantides%2520%25203%2520days%252C%252010%2520hours&pg=PA110 |title=The World's Toughest Races: From the Most Extreme to the Downright Weird |last=Clarke |first=Ali |date=2015-07-09 |publisher=Summersdale Publishers |isbn=9781783726189 |language=en |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref>
In 1988 Diamantides won both the women's events in the 31 km Mount Cameroon race and the Mount Kinabalu race in Borneo;<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.berghausdragonsbackrace.com/the-archive/twenty-years-later-an-interview-with-helene-whitaker-and-martin-stone/ |title=Twenty Years Later - An Interview with Helene Whitaker and Martin Stone - The Berghaus Dragon's Back Race |website=www.berghausdragonsbackrace.com |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref> and she came third in the {{convert|100|mi|km|adj=on}} Hogger 'Super Marathon' in Algeria. In the same year she also set a new women's record for the BG: 20 h 17 min.
The next year Diamantides' ambition was to complete in one summer all three of the classic British 24-hour rounds: the English Bob Graham Round, the Welsh Paddy Buckley Round, and the Scottish Ramsay Round. The first was the Paddy Buckley which was completed in 20 h 8 min; beating the men's record (held by Adrian Belton) by two hours. One month later she ran the Ramsay Round. She was then only the sixth person to successfully complete it and did so with a time of 20 h 24 min.
In 1992, with Martin Stone, Diamantides entered The Dragon's Back race, a new {{convert|220|mi|km|adj=on}} five-day race across the length of Wales;<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://mpora.com/hiking-and-trail-running/helene-diamantides-whitaker-interview-ultra-marathon-runner-gender-never-mattered |title=We Talked Sexism in Ultra Running with the Legend that is Helene Diamantides Whitaker |website=Mpora |language=en-US |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref> she and Stone won the race in 38 h 38 min.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} During the 2012 second running of the Dragon's Back Race, Diamantides finished in fourth place overall and first place as a woman.<ref>[http://results.sportident.co.uk/home/multistage/multistageresults.html?multistageid=956664fe-a59f-4fa1-b03e-8218910d0e52&results=on 2012 Results]</ref>
She won the Borrowdale Fell Race four times, with her 1999 time of 3 h 14 min 45 s the second-fastest ever in the women's race and within ten seconds of Menna Angharad's course record. In 1990, Diamantides set a course record in the Wasdale Fell Race, which stood until 1997 when it was beaten by Mari Todd. Diamantides held the course record for the Langdale Horseshoe from 1992 until 2016, when it was broken by Victoria Wilkinson.
==Personal life==
Diamantides has two children. She married her partner Jon Whitaker in 2005. She works as a physiotherapist.<ref>[http://www.csp.org.uk/director/members/newsandanalysis/frontlinemagazine/archiveissues.cfm?ITEM_ID=340EBD88AEAC227389875883E30C22F5&article=] {{Dead link|date=March 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources==
* Information taken from: Askwith, Richard, ''Feet in the Clouds'', Chapter 29, London: Aurum Press, 2005. *[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/article2880423.ece Timesonline]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} *[http://www.ultrafondus.fr/content/view/1390/40/ Ultrafondus]
==External links== * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD6ywokYbqI YouTube: 1992 Dragon's Back Race]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Diamantides, Helene}} Category:British fell runners Category:British ultramarathon runners