August 2025

By: Mark Watts

Welcome to August’s edition of the GWR monthly newsletter!

This is the place where you can hear all about the latest club information including races, save-the-dates, ADMF good-news stories, kit updates, and more… all in one place! This is a great way to keep you all updated on the exciting goings-on of the club, and to celebrate all we have accomplished.

August has soon rolled around and the next batch of news, winter running will be upon us, the AGM will soon be on the agenda and I’ll be moaning every week for people to wear hi-vis clothing.

But, we’re not there yet! We have a summer BBQ happening that may have happened by the time you read this, the club championship is on fire with half the series down and we get to the business end of proceedings and of course some save the dates for you diaries for the events you wont want to miss!

So read all about it below!

Dates for the diary and Events:

August 2025

• Wednesday 6th August: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)
• Wednesday 13th August: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)
• Friday 15th August: Towpath Series Race 4 of 4
• Saturday 16th August: Chepstow Running Festival (10k) Club Championship Race
• Wednesday 20th August: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)
• Saturday 23rd August: Summer Green man Ultra
• Sunday 24th August: Cleeve Road Relays (4 persons x 5k)
• Monday 25th August: The Track is Back! @Whitchurch track
• Wednesday 27th August: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)

September 2025

• Wednesday 3rd September: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)
• Wednesday 10th September: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)
• Wednesday 10th September: Fit Forming Physio talk @Redland
• Sunday 14th September: Wotton 10k (10k) Club Championship Race
• Wednesday 17th September: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)
• Thursday 18th September: Weston Prom maybe? I have Emailed to confirm
• Wednesday 24thSeptember: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)
• Sunday 28th September: Black Nore 10k Hosted by Portishead Running Club

October 2025

• 15th October: GWR Club AGM

Misc. Updates

Towpath Race is nearly run

We are into August now so that means 3 down and one towpath race to go! We have enjoyed great success in the three races so far so lets see it out with the finale 5k on the 15th August in style so, please let Awais know if you can help.

The committee have made it compulsory to help the club in some shape or form to be eligible for the London Marathon draw at Christmas so you’re running out of time to help if you want to be in that draw, new faces especially required! Just a smile and enthusiasm required, all other training will be given! Alternatively if you fancy running or know of others that may want to run then here’s the link to enter below!

https://race-nation.co.uk/register/great-western-runners-2/towpath-series-2025

Video credit: Oscar Prince

IG: @oscar_pr1nce

GWR Club Championship

Not much has changed in the Club Championship this month as we had 2 races in the month of June. I’ve still added the current standings though just for your perusal. We do have a race now in August and the runthrough Chepstow 10k is upon us! Don’t forget you can use your club discount code for entry as well! It could be a perfect opportunity to get a low GWR finish score and fire yourself up the table!

Thank you to James Healey for collating all the results, we have started looking at age group prizes and whether this is something we will do prizes for. After Chepstow we will now potentially have our first GWR Club Championship 2025 finishers!

A quick run down of the Rules for those who are unsure of how it works, i repeat this is a test year and i’m sure it will be modified in future years as we’ll have some data to base the championship from.

The championship will run for 6 races throughout the summer at local events. You must complete 4 of the events to qualify as a finisher of the championship. By running an event you are automatically entered into the championship. You must be a paid up member of the club to be eligible. Points are scored against your GWR finish place for that event (1st = 1 point, 2nd = 2 points and so on..). The person with the lowest average score that has completed 4 races will be the winner. There will be Male/Female prizes on offer and potentially AG prizes depending on how many runners we have in each group..

The six races in question are

May – Sri Chinmoy 2 miler

June – Blaise Blazer – 4 miler

June  – Nailsea Beer and Banger

August – Chepstow 10k (You can use GWR runthrough discount on this one)

https://www.runthrough.co.uk/event/chepstow-running-festival-5k-10k-half-marathon-august-2025

Sept – Wotton 10k

https://race-nation.co.uk/register/wotton-lions/10-000m-under-the-edge-2025

Oct – parkrun Five Arches

Here’s the current standings after race 3!

Male Standings

Female Standings

If anyone has any questions then see James Healey or Mark Watts.

Summer BBQ

Depending on when this goes out or if it does where you read it the BBQ may or may not have happened. Anyway, it’s the 3rd of August from 16:00 at the club. Please pay your £5 to the club account to receive your meal ticket.

More to come about this in September’s issue!

Food at the Club

This has been a source of frustration for not only the committee but I think everyone has felt the annoyance of coming back to the club post run and not being able to eat. Even if you don’t eat, we are aware it’s affecting how many stay after our runs. What makes our club so great is the social and welcoming aspect and gives everyone a chance to mix with everybody in the club.

We have been in touch with Redland and voiced our concerns and hopefully this will be cleared up soon and we can go back to having table rows full of runners again.

Football came home, Again!

An honorary mention for the newly formed GWRs mixed 5 a side team as they witnessed history at the Redland Green Club Watching England triumph in the Euros in Switzerland on penalties to retain the title they won back in 2022. Lets hope this inspires another generation of girls in sports and we benefit from that in our clubs next 41 years!

The multi-talented team also then took part in the Redland Green quiz where they finished a commendable second place. “The Pork rolls were nice, even if they were pricey” noted team captain Ian Haynes. The quiz takes place on the last Sunday every month from 7pm at the club and is free to enter, the food is not though…

ADMF

There’s not a lot to report on ADMF from a GWR standpoint at this present time. I have not received notification from Mike Campbell that we were shortlisted for an EA award for community project of the year and we were supposed to hear in July, so the jury is out on that one!

The Skittles match is still being progressed and Vic Davies is finalising dates with the venue for mid September, there will be more news on this soon I’m sure!

Mike Campbell holding his 2023 UK Triathlon Race Series medal

For any other queries, please email admf@greatwesternrunners.org.uk.

Parkrun Tourism – Clevedon

This seems an awfulling long time ago but after many failed attempts at getting to Clevedon GWR finally managed a trip there! Thank you to Awais for organising the event so seamlessly and we look forward to whatever other venues you have up your sleeve.

Other notable mentions that I remember at the time of writing is that Ian Haynes joined the 400 parkrun club, not an official milestone but that’s a lot of Saturday mornings! Not to be outdone though Marcus Kropacsy joined the blue t-shirt 500 club in July with his 500th 5k run, which is about running from Bristol as the crow flies to the centre of Algeria!

Switch to Winter Running

I know, it’s bad news and we don’t want to talk about it, but it’s coming.. By the end of August we may be thinking of the winter routes, Bridge Valley Road and Stoke Hill once more. If its your first year with the club and not done them, you’re in for a treat!

Just an advanced warning that whilst there may be some sales on, just a suggestion to pick up some reflective clothing and/or lights. We can look into reflective clubwear again but as they were coming out at nearly £35-40 per top unless there’s significant interest that may not happen again this year.

Pass the Buck

Maybe not one for our newsletter but thank you to the people that went to support Southville in their “Pass the Buck” relay race. They help us by supporting the towpath tremendously and hopefully that race will grow and no doubt it will likely be a club championship race in 2026.

Cotswold Relay

Big congrats to everyone who completed their respective legs for the cotswold relay. 2 teams, no late drop outs and no one got lost (well nearly, IYKYK). A big thank you to Andy Holliday and Mike Willcox on the water station and then Mike completed a leg later in the day also! Top job by Ian to organise the teams and each of you going out and recce’ing them. Also, if you ran and not collected your leg certificate please do, we know who you are! 😉

Last but not least though a massive congratulations to Fi Lang for becoming Queen of the Cotswolds by completing all ten legs which is a great achievement over that many years, even remembering which legs you’d done is impressive!

By the way the 2026 edition is on July the 4th should you wish to organise next year’s teams?

Cleeve Road Relays

This race returns and I’ve heard a few people (Kelly Dicks & Mike Willcox) from around the club looking to form teams. Its on the 24th August and the categories are as follows:

• 4 Legs Men & MV40 4 Legs Mixed Parkrun Team (Mixed Age Categories)
• 3 Legs All Ladies, U20 Men/Ladies, MV50,MV60,MV70
• Seniors, MV40, MV50, MV60, MV70, FV35, FV45, FV55, FV65, parkrun

5km per Leg

Entry is £10 i believe.

Weston Prom returns…?

The Weston Prom series is back for another year (I think?)

This was in last year’s newsletter with a list of dates for the upcoming series but a look on Weston AC’s website and I’m drawing a blank. So it probably will return, think about if you can make the races and maybe you might consider being on a GWR team, how exciting!

More news to follow as we get it I guess!

Committee Roles 25/26

With the AGM fast approaching on October 15th, and some inevitable shifting of priorities, we always anticipate a couple of committee roles becoming available. Joining the committee is a wonderful way to represent us all, give back, and help shape our club as it grows and evolves.

If you’ve ever considered joining the committee and would like to know more about what we do on a week-to-week basis, then please do reach out to any of the Committee members. Take the opportunity to think about whether you’d like to submit your name before the AGM in October – we’d love for you to get involved…

Remember: If we all do a little, no one has to do a lot.

This could be you one day…

Sportsshoes Code

We have an exciting new discount to offer members of England Athletics affiliated clubs!

You can now link your England Athletics membership with your (free) SportsShoes ULTRA account to receive a discount automatically at checkout. This prevents the need to enter a code at checkout, making receiving a discount from us a lot quicker and easier. You can find out more here.

The discount on offer has been increased to 15% off in season products. Some exclusions apply to this promotion, including Coros, Garmin, Shokz, Maurten products and a few shoes.

Please note the old system of sportsshoes supplying a code for discount will cease in the coming months in exchange for the new one.

Kit 

For club race kit and leisurewear (including club-branded running gear), please see the website  here to pay and then collect your item (s) from the club on Wednesdays. For training and/or leisurewear please see the Macron Store here.

Welfare

Need some support, a neutral second opinion? Please reach out to our welfare team David Honeywill and Karen Wills via email welfare@greatwesternrunners.org.uk

Everyone should feel safe and supported at the club.

Contact

If you would like to contact the committee about any club run business, suggestions, questions or otherwise, please do get in touch on committee@greatwesternrunners.org.uk

We’d love to hear from you!