Southville RC Newsletter March 2025

Hi Everyone,

🏆  It's 2025 SRC Club Championships time! 🏆 

The SRC Club Championship (or SRC³, as nobody calls it) is our annual event which gives everyone in the club a chance to get involved to challenge themselves in a mix of local road and trail races, with a bespoke target for them for every race.

The most important thing about the Club Championships is because everyone has a bespoke target based on their recent races, anyone can win - regardless of their pace or experience.

This year the Championships will take place from April to July and feature 12 races. Those entering the Championships will need to take part in a minimum of five races. Everyone's five best scores will count towards their final points total, so if you run six or more, your worst score(s) will drop out of the reckoning. 

If you'd like to take part in this year's Championships, fill in this form by 29th March which also contains the full rules and regulations.

All the Championship races have been added to "Dates for your Diary" at the end of this email and marked with 🏆. Even if you're not entering the Championship, it's worth having a look as these races will inevitably have a big SRC presence to cheer you on.

Kit orders - closing 9th March

Orders for SRC race T-shirts and vests are now open until Sunday 9 March. This is your opportunity to get yourself kitted up for spring and summer races, as our next kit run won’t be until autumn. 

Place your order on the Scimitar website, and kit will go into production after 9 March with an estimated delivery of 21 April, hopefully before London and Manchester marathons. Orders will be delivered to the club and then distributed to you, so there’s no postage charges.

Further details are on the Kit page on our website. You can also check out the small amount of kit we have to buy without pre-order. At time of writing we have vests in male S and female XS, and T-shirts in male S/M and female XS.

Social news

Well done to everyone who took part in Tuesday's skittles social, which saw some excellent skittling and great encouragement to all the competitors.

Our next SRC social will be on Wednesday March 12th, and we'll be trying our hands at the fastest growing sport in the UK.

It will be a Padel taster session (everyone welcome) exclusively for SRC on 12th March 6.30-8pm at Rocket Padel St Anne’s, the biggest and best equipped club in the South West.

15 mins basic coaching followed by game play and fun, racquets included.  6 people per court so there will be an opportunity to catch your breath, rotate and cheer on your friends.

Only 18 places so don’t miss out! Only £8.33 each to play. 

To sign up first download the Playtomic app from the App Store, then click this link.

Race Roundup



This month's Weston Prom Run saw a great turnout of 31 SRC runners braving the high winds on the promenade. Liz Thomson and Clara ran 5 mile PBs despite battling headwinds on the final stretch, and Penny was third lady.

22 Southville runners turned out for the Ironwood Challenge with some suitably challenging conditions; the rain and wind made an already difficult course even more slippery and slidy. Nonetheless we had fantastic results with five runners in the top 15 and Gareth Williams taking home the gold for the over-40s.

We also saw a strong turnout at the Wiltshire 10 earlier in the month, while Nic Chappell ran a PB at the Farnborough Half. 

The Towpath Series is returning in May on Friday 23rd, and our friends at Great Western Runners have given us a discount code!

The series comprises of three 10km races and a 5km out and back along the Towpath. The most popular race of the series is the Mob Match (23rd May) where we will be rallying our troops to compete against other clubs on a points based system. ALL runners count towards a win, not just speedy folk! We’ll be looking to take back our crown from Bristol & West this year!

Early bird entry for the whole series is only £25 but for an extra £5 off at the checkout, enter the code ‘SouthvilleGreenArmy’. To enter the series head to the GWR website.

Monthly online payment option - now available!

Dozens of us have already signed up for our new monthly payment option and no longer have to hunt for 50ps to bring on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

This in turn means our volunteers need to make fewer trips to the bank laden with 50ps, and our more regular runners can actually save money. 

For full details and how to set up your subscription, see the special edition that went out earlier this month.

If you don't currently run often enough to justify a monthly payment, don't worry; you can still just turn up and bring 50p for the cashbox. We committed to retaining this option at last year's autumn QGM to ensure we remain as accessible and flexible as always.

Parkrun

Parkrun is a free weekly timed 5k run that takes place every Saturday all over the country and all over the world. There are also 2k Junior Parkruns for those 14 and under. 

We aim for an extra-large turnout at Ashton Court on every first Saturday of the month. This month's first Saturday (which is today) is extra special, because we're holding a parkrun takeover, where we give back to the running community by filling all the places on the volunteer roster.

We filled the roster within hours of announcing the takeover, so we encourage everyone to simply come along and run on Saturday morning and get an extra large Green Army cheer.

(There is also guaranteed to be cake at the café if you hang around for all the volunteers to come in, as yours truly is celebrating his 40th birthday.)

Our tourism day will follow two weeks later on Saturday 15th March, and will be at Chipping Sodbury. Relive your school days with three laps of a flat course round the playing fields. Please note that unfortunately dogs are not allowed at this event. 

If you're looking for a lift or able to offer one, our members-only WhatsApp community has a dedicated parkrun channel.
 

Dates for your Diary

🏆 marks an SRC Championship race. A big Green Army turnout guaranteed!

🧡💚Sat March 1 - SRC parkrun takeover, Ashton Court
🥳Wed March 12 - SRC Padel Social
💚Sat March 15 - Parkrun tourism at Chipping Sodbury
🏁Thu March 20 - Weston Prom Run
🏁Sun March 23 - 20/20 Fission (Berkeley)
🏆🧡Sat April 5 - Ashton Court Parkrun
🏁Sun April 6 -  Big Cheese (Cheddar)
🏆Sun April 13 - Frenchay 10k
🏆Thu April 17 - Weston Prom Run
🏆🧡Sat April 19 - Rogiet Parkrun
🏆Sat April 26 - Butcombe Trail Ultra
🏆🥳Sun May 11 - Great Bristol Half / 10k
🏆🧡Sat May 17 - Forest of Dean Parkrun
🏁Thu May 22 - Weston Prom Run
🏆Fri May 23 - Towpath Mobmatch 10k
🏆Mon June 2 - Blaise Blazer
🏆Tue June 10 - Clevedon Midsummer 10k
🏁Fri June 20 - Towpath 10k
🏆🧡Sat June 21 - Severn Bridge Parkrun
🏆Wed July 2 - Chippenham Harriers River Run 
🚌Sat July 5 - Cotswold Way Relay
🚌July 10-13 - Love Trails Festival
🏆Thu July 17 - Purdown Pursuit
🏁Fri July 25 - Towpath 10k
🏁Fri August 15 - Towpath 5k





 

All the best,

Southville Running Club
info@southvillerunningclub.co.uk