September 2025

By Mark Watts

Welcome to September’s edition of the GWR monthly newsletter! The start of the Brr months!

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.

September is upon us and thoughts switch to winter running, Stoke Hill, the Portway and cheesy chips back at the club. We’ll try and hang onto summer for the last remaining days/weeks as there was plenty going on in recent times to keep us busy. The Towpath closed its doors for another season, we had the excellent summer BBQ, the Gromit unleashed run returned and the club championship is now red hot as we enter into the final couple of races.

Plenty to get your eyes on so read all about it below!

Dates for the diary and Events:

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 5
• Wednesday 17th September: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)
• Wednesday 24thSeptember: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)
• Thursday 25th September: Weston Prom 5 miler (Race 1 of 9)
• Sunday 28th September: Black Nore 10k Hosted by Portishead Running Club

October 2025

• Wednesday 1st October: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)
• Wednesday 8th October: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)
• Saturday 11th October: Gwent League Cross Country (Race 1 of 5)
• Saturday 11th October: Five Arches parkrun Club Championship Race 6 Finale
• Wednesday 15th October: Club run at 19:00 (4 and 6 official mile groups)
• 15th October: GWR Club AGM
• Thursday 16th October: Weston Prom 5 miler (Race 2 of 9)
• Wednesday 22nd October: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)
• Wednesday 29th October: Club run at 19:00 (4, 6, 8 and 10 mile groups)

Misc. Updates

Fit Forming Fhsyio

Coming up on the 10th September we have another talk at the Redland club, to give you even more value for your membership!

Adam Wookey will be coming from Fit Forming Physio to discuss all things injury prevention. We’ve had a few of these discussions and they’ve always been popular.

The talk aims to kick off at 8:30pm in the small room so that should be enough time to complete the 4/6 mile route, a quick shower and grab a bite to eat ready to listen.

If anybody has any contacts who may wish to come and speak then please get in touch!

Towpath is Over for Another Year

It came, it saw, and it conquered and was gone in a flash again for another year! We had some super weather for the four Fridays throughout the summer and everyone brought smiles and good vibes to the party, and we even got a free rave in race 3!

A big thank you goes out to everyone who helped make it another great year, with special thanks you John and Awais for their key roles. I say it every year but the towpath is one of if not the main source of income for the club each year and every year it delivers and we deliver so credit to us all.

Next years towpath planning believe it or not is already underway so we look forward to dusting off that tent again in May (or maybe not…?)

GWR Club Championship

Here we go! Race 4 of the Club Championship has been and gone and that means we have our first finishers, but can they stay there?

Chepstow 10k was probably not supported as some of the other races due to the school holidays and being on a Saturday, but it provided an excellent opportunity for those that did attend to get a nice low score and move up that leaderboard come October.

Overall though, GWR showed up well with Will Purcell taking 5th overall, with Katy Sutcliffe finishing second lady. There were also category wins for John Hargreaves (V70) and Sue Riddell (V65).

Not part of the championship, but worth a mention Emma Preston in the Half marathon event finished as first female in 1:33. Congrats all!

A quick run down of the Rules for those who are unsure of how the championship 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 plus the races will change as we receive feedback from the club..

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
• 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 4!

Male Standings

Female Standings

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

Sunshine, Sizzle & Smiles: GWR Summer BBQ Recap

Despite this summer being the hottest and driest on record, Sunday 3rd August looked set to be a washout rather than a BBQ bonanza. Grey skies, gusty winds, and drizzle had us all wondering if we’d be flipping burgers in waterproofs. But just as the grills were fired up, the weather gods smiled down, clouds parted, the sun burst through, and blue skies set the scene for a perfect afternoon.

A great turnout of members, along with family and friends, gathered to enjoy a feast of delicious burgers, hot dogs, chicken, fresh salads, and of course… chips! Special dietary needs were well catered for, ensuring everyone had something tasty to tuck into.

Some got competitive over ping pong, while others simply soaked up the sunshine, chatting and relaxing, without the usual sweaty kit and breathless banter. It was a lovely chance to connect, unwind, and enjoy each other’s company whilst not pounding the pavements!

Thanks to everyone who came along and helped make it such a memorable day!

Thank you to Elena for arranging and making it a fab event as always!

Food at the Club

This is a little frustrating at the moment as it feels a little bit of a lottery as to whether we will be catered for or not on a weekly basis. The club assures us they will sort the situation and in my notes I noticed we had a block of 6 weeks last year where we had no catering. Its not ideal but I think we can be sure in that things will return to normal over the coming weeks as its fundamental for us as a club especially with the dark winter nights upon us we can offer something to refuel on. This will obviously be continued to be monitored.

parkrun Updates

The month kicked off with a spot of parkrun tourism to a well attended Sharpham Road playing fields for a “Gorge”ous morning out. Thank you Awais for organising!

There were a few other parkrun milestones that we were aware of. Mark Watts completed his 300th parkrun, Marcus Kropacsy completed his 400th and Fi Lang completed her 500th! amazing effort by everyone.

There may soon be another parkrun takeover at a venue and date to be revealed soon! If you have any tourism requests then please get them into Awais. He’s not allowed me to select Lands End just yet though!

Switch to Winter Running

After a couple of weeks of hanging on, this month will definitely see all the run groups switch to the winter routes for the foreseeable.

PLEASE wear appropriate bright colour and/or lights. There are plenty of local shops that have bright stock to purchase or Amazon next day delivery will suffice.

It’s not something I want to keep mentioning every week at announcements. If everyone leads by example then the few that don’t will feel the peer pressure to join in.

Weston Prom

Our favourite series is back! (Well our second favourite series after the towpath of course!) Nine 5 mile races along the Weston prom. It offers character building racing, a good chance to benchmark progress each month and guaranteed fish and chips at the end!

Its a well supported club event and we usually put a couple of teams in so if you can make most of the races (not all) then please sign up and we will be sorting teams out by race 2.

The dates for your diary are:

• Race 1: 25 September 2025
• Race 2: 16 October 2025
• Race 3: 27 November 2025
• Race 4: 11 December 2025
• Race 5: 8 January 2026
• Race 6: 12 February 2026
• Race 7: 12 March 2026
• Race 8: 9 April 2026
• Race 9: 21 May 2026

The 9 race series comes in at a bargain £50 for affiliated runners and can be found at this link:

https://race-nation.co.uk/register/weston-ac/weston-5-mile-prom-series-2025-2026

ADMF

The Skittles match is still going ahead but may be put back to next year now because of sorting a venue but when this has been finalised you will all be the first to know. Westbury are running scared!!!

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

Cleeve Road Relays

Not a race we usually enter en masse because of its regular clash with the Severn Bridge Half marathon but this year we entered a male vets team and finished 2nd overall.

Mike Willcox, Ian Keagan, Ian Haynes and Will Gillett congrats to you!

More Cheese Gromit

August the 13th saw GWR complete the Gromit unleashed run. There were plenty of cheesy grins whilst some camembert the camera but there were plenty of smiles and a brielliant time was had, especially with the two extra bonus miles on offer!

Committee Roles 25/26

With the AGM fast approaching on October 15th, and peoples lives becoming ever increasingly busy, we are anticipating 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.

We are likely to need to fill two positions: A non-executive position and the Deputy Chair role (which may be filled by someone currently on the committee).

Both roles are not particularly time consuming and I would say a couple of hours per month.

You don’t have to be an experienced runner or have been at the club very long to get involved, in fact we would appreciate fresh ideas and impetus.

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.

Exciting News: GWR WhatsApp Community Launching Soon!

In just a few weeks, we’ll be launching a brand-new WhatsApp community for Great Western Runners! Because we all need more WhatsApp groups in our lives!

This will make it easier for the committee to keep you updated with announcements, upcoming events, changes, and general club news. Alongside the main announcement group, we’ll also be introducing a number of optional sub-groups tailored to specific interests, such as:

• Parkrun Chat
• Sunday Social Arrangements
• Cotswold Relay Planning
• …and more!

You’ll be free to join or leave any of these groups at any time, you will be there of your own free will, but it may come in handy for arranging events or club information that needs to be shared quickly.

More details will be shared soon, so keep an eye out!

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!