Southville RC Newsletter June 2026
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to summer! As the spring road racing season draws to a close, there’s still plenty to get involved with in and outside SRC.
The minutes for our Quarterly General Meeting in April are now available on our website.
Race roundup
This month kicked off with our Ashton Court parkrun meet up, awesome to see so much Southville green on the hill, celebrating Jane Duffus’ 500th parkrun. 💙 Back on 6th June. We also toured to Pomphrey Hill, as part of the Club Championship. There was a great turn out and hopefully some points. Touring in June to Riverfront.
Also this month was the inaugural Blaise Back Yard Ultra, a hilly 4.17 mile loop run on the hour every hour for as long as the last man is standing. Congratulations to Sam Lewis (especially after Butcombe the week before) and Dan Hooper, who completed 9 & 11 yards. The winner went on to run 27 yards. Entries are already open for next year!
A few differences for the Bristol 10k & half this year, the route was in reverse with different start times for the 10k & half, and the weather was not as hot! Great support on the course especially at the SRC cheer point, thanks Robin & Sophie for co-ordinating & arranging the social at the Hen & Chicken! There were an incredible 49 registered SRC runners in the 10k & 50 SRC runners in the half. Well done to everyone, and those who ran PBs, or smashed their target times!
The 2025 / 26 prom series came to a close this month. Conditions were warm! Series prizes were also announced, congratulations to Penny Guess who was the Senior Female winner and the SRC Senior Male Team won their category. Well done to everyone who took part over the last 9 months. It’ll be back in September 😅
Bringing the spring marathon season to a close was Edinburgh, on the very hot bank holiday! Well done Ewan & Josh, couldn’t have been easy, and Katherine & Celia (who ran a Pb) in the half.
Finally, the month ended with the infamous Mob Match! The local running derby competing in GWR’s first Tow Path 10k race of the series. Great SRC buzz at the event, awesome numbers, and post run social. Thanks to Kayleigh & Robin for sorting the refreshments. Everyone ran well, the results were close, but we were just beaten by Bristol & West. We had lots of excellent results including Penny Guess - 2nd lady, Charlotte Robinson - 3rd F Senior & a PB! David Thulbeck - 2nd M Senior, Graham Wadsworth & Bryan Walsh - 1st & 3rd in the M40 category, Tim Ginns & Roy Ward - 2nd & 3rd in the M50 category.
Plenty of local races coming up in June & we’ll be out at Ashton Court & Riverfront parkrun. 💚
A big thank you to Laura for the race report.
June also brings us the last races in the SRC Club Championship. These comprise the Clevedon 10k on the 9th (see below for details of the post-race social), Riverfront Parkrun on the 13th, the Giants Head 10k on the 20th, and finally the series ends with the Nailsea Beer and Banger 10k on the 26th, which is now open for entries.
Outside the Championship, there’s also another Towpath 10k on Friday 19th.
Clevedon 10k social - pre-orders to be placed by this Thursday
As mentioned, it's just over a week to the Clevedon 10k on Tuesday 9th, when dozens of us will head to Clevedon on Tuesday night for a flat, fast, picturesque summer 10k along winding country lanes. It's an SRC Championship race and has great PB potential so a big turnout from runners of all abilities is guaranteed. As is traditional, we will head to the Failand Inn immediately after for a post-race social. Join us to celebrate everyone's achievements and refuel with no late-night cooking required!
Everyone needs to place a pre-order and pay in advance via bank transfer, which will avoid long waits for food when we get there. The Failand have extended their kitchen opening hours and put on a special menu for us with six pub classics to choose from. To see the menu and place your order, follow this link.
Pre-orders need to be on the spreadsheet by this Thursday 4th July so that we can send the list to the Failand Inn. Payment must arrive by close of business on Monday 8th.
Please also note that Tickenham Road is closed from 8pm that evening (thanks Cathryn for the heads-up). According to Google Maps, going up the M5 from J20 to J19 and then south through Portbury is likely to be the quickest alternative. The B3124 can also be used for a motorway-free detour.
Summer Party
It’s time for SRC’s Summer Party 🌞🎉
🎉 Swap your running shoes for dancing shoes! 👟➡️💃
Join us for an evening of dancing, nibbles, drinks, and even better company 🥳🍹
Whether you’ve smashed every run this year or you’ve just joined, everyone’s welcome to celebrate the sunshine, good vibes, and all things SRC 💚
You can buy tickets online here: https://www.southvillerunningclub.co.uk/src-summer-party-2026
Pass the Buck
We have opened entries for our SRC organised race, Pass the Buck - a spectacular summer 2-person relay race through the beautiful trails of Ashton Court, where each runner tackles a 5km loop of the estate.
Please do share with your friends, family, co-workers etc and on social media so we can build on the success of the event last year. They can enter here https://www.fullonsport.com/event/pass-the-buck-2026/profile. Of course we will be wanting loads of volunteers for the event so please save the date in your diaries - the evening of 8th July - and look out for opportunities to get involved.
And for those of you who just can’t get enough of volunteering for the club, and are partial to fancy dress, we are already in the planning stages for our epic Halloween themed race the Nightingale Nightmare, back after a fallow year last autumn. More on this soon…
Parkrun
Parkrun is a free weekly timed 5k run that takes place every Saturday at 9am all over the country and all over the world. There are also 2k Junior Parkruns for those 14 and under. You can sign up for free on parkrun's website, where you will get a barcode that can be taken to every event (physically or on your phone); you just turn up, run and then have your barcode scanned at the end to get your result.
Our designated parkrun on the first Saturday of every month is Ashton Court, which next month will be Saturday 6th June. We will of course be stopping for a post Parkrun coffee after the event!
On Saturday 13th June we’ll be heading to Riverfront Parkrun in Newport for a bit of tourism and an SRC Club Championship race (the last over the 5k distance). It’s a flat out-and-back along the river on tarmac and paved paths. Dogs are not permitted on this course.
If you need a lift or can offer one, head to our members-only WhatsApp community, where we'll also be exchanging details of any post-parkrun coffee meetups.
Other dates for your Diary
🧡Sat June 6 - SRC @ Ashton Court parkrun
🚌Sat June 6 - Classic Quarter, Cornwall
🏁Tue June 9 - Clevedon Midsummer 10k
🧡Sat June 13 - Riverfront parkrun
🏁Sat June 19 - Towpath 10k
🚌June 20-21 - Giants Head Weekend (10k, Half, Marathon)
🏁Fri June 26 - Beer and Banger 10k, Nailsea
🚌Sat July 4 - Cotswold Way Relay
🏁Weds July 8 - Our very own Pass The Buck
🏁Fri July 17 - Towpath 10k
🥳Sat July 25 - SRC Summer Party
🏁Fri August 14 - Towpath 5k
🏁Sat August 22 - Green Man Ultra
🏁Sun September 13 - Chippenham Half Marathon
🏁Sun September 27 - Forest of Dean Half Marathon
Enjoy your run,
Sam at Southville Running Clubinfo@southvillerunningclub.co.uk