Welcome to Saddleworth Runners
Our club is a not for profit organisation founded by people who love running, mainly on the fells and moors. The club prides itself on having a great social side as well as aiding runners to compete in some of the toughest races around. We have around 160 members with a strong womens section.
Joining our Club
Come along to a few training sessions to try us out for size. Then if you want to become a member, fill in the 2022-2023 Membership Form. This also gives you details of how to buy a club vest.
We have a range of ages and abilities. The average age is early 40’s though a lot of the recent new members are bringing that average down. There are around 120 members and that number is slowly growing as people see the attraction of running with friends in a group.
There are many experienced “mountain” people in the club who pass on plenty of knowledge to those joining wishing to venture into the hills perhaps for the first time. We aren’t a club with a lot of elite athletes, though our best runners are good enough to win local fell races.
Why Join Saddleworth Runners Club?
Here are a few reasons our members have joined Saddleworth Runners:
Access to multiple running and fitness sessions (including a dedicated women’s only run) available where you can run in the company of likeminded people with a passion for the great outdoors and keeping fit.
A chance to explore the Saddleworth countryside along quiet paths and across open moorland giving a massive sense of exploration and discovery.
The opportunity to improve your fitness and test yourself in our club championship and handicap races.
A chance to take part in community events such as marshalling one of our races and raise money for our charities.
An opportunity to learn coaching skills to help the next generation of runners.
Access to our forums and members for advice and tips, such as learning how to navigate, training advice for a 10k road race or what to expect from your first fell race.
Social events including our annual dinner, camping trips and away days, winter sledging hill reps, Manchester night outs, the carol singing Santa dash and lots, lots more!
The right to wear the club’s vest and snazzy red shorts!
When do we meet and where?
When you arrive at the session you’ll find us all milling around chatting. If it’s your first time out with the club please let us know so we can say hello and let you know what the plan is for the night. Training times and locations
What to wear
During the summer on the moors, its best to have a cagoule to keep the wind off. Most of us have a bumbag to carry it in. Early and late season you’ll find its also worth carrying gloves and a hat with a headtorch.
If the weather is OK, a thermal top is often enough with shorts or tracksters but this changes if its raining or windy.
Fell shoes such as Walshes are used in races but for training a trail shoe with a good grip will be fine. Many of us get our advice from Si Taylor at Mountainfeet in Marsden. He uses gait analysis & will advise you on the best shoe for your foot and the use of socks to avoid blisters.
When not to run
We have a club of runners who are continually getting injured. The trick is to recognise the injury and know what exercises to use to recover as most of us want to remain active despite being injured. Have a look at Physiobench, run by a couple of our members, which offers excellent advice on self managing your injury.
If you are coming down with illness, don’t run. Stay home and wait till you’ve recovered or it’ll make it a lot worse.
Socialising and Away Days
In addition to the training sessions, we pride ourselves on being a very social bunch! At the end of each Tuesday night session we generally retire for a pint & a chat at the Cricket Club or pub where the run started from. At least once a month we have a run from a different location and try to lay on food at the pub afterwards.
In the winter we plan monthly night runs on the moors and the Saddleworth Santa Dash (see the website for incriminating evidence of our poor carol singing skills!) round the local villages.
During the summer you’ll often find day trips to the Lakes, Dales, the Peaks and Snowdonia in the offing. These are great opportunities to gain experience of navigating in epic landscapes and improve your fitness and skills in a challenging environment.
Once a year we organise a weekend camping trip where all the family is welcome to come along and enjoy the wonderful British Weather!
Races
There are soooooo many races to choose from, there really is something to suit every taste and every fitness level! Our members have had a go at them all so if there is something you fancy giving a go and you want some advice just ask. Have a look at the Fellrunner for the full calendar of races.
We have a Club Championship which incorporates a number of these races which you can compete in as a member. Many of these also qualify us for the South Pennines Grand Prix.
We also organise a Club Handicap which is series of races run on a Tuesday night once a month from April to October. These are club only races but you are welcome to join us at these races.
Mentoring and Coaching
As a club we are keen to share our skills and we continue to grow though the experience and input new members bring.
We can team you up with someone if you are looking to do a pairs event, such as our own New Chew race in February or you can join one of our relay teams: Saddleworth Runners are always well represented in local fell, trail and road races.
We also have a number of UKA level 2 Coaches for Fell and Hill Running, UKA leadership in Fell Running Fitness Coaches, an aerobics instructor, a physio, a dietician and not to mention members who have run road and trail marathons and ultra-marathons all over the world so there will always be someone to give guidance with fitness!
How you can get involved at our races and events
We organise a number of our own races and are always looking for volunteers to help as there is a lot to plan behind the scenes. Don’t worry; training is given before you don a tabbard! Look out for emails from the race organisers about a month before each event. We’ll even find a job for you which gives you an opportunity to race too.
We have a strong juniors section and its success is all down to the dedication of volunteers. Each season we are keen to take on more to help expand this part of the club. Volunteers are given the option to gain recognised qualifications in coaching. Ultimately helping out is a great way to give a bit back to the local community.