Why join Hart Road Runners?  Because you’ll join our friendly and sociable running club family with a wide range of ages and abilities! 

How many members do you have? We currently have about 180 members and are growing gradually.  Typically we get around 30-40 runners turning up to our track sessions, and anywhere between 10 – 40 at our other training evenings on Tuesday and Thursday (the pub social runs in the summer are very popular for some reason!). 

I’m not sure about joining a running club… how do I know if it’s for me? People join us for all sorts of reasons; whether to simply take part in our popular Thursday evening social runs rather than running on your own.  Or you might want to discover new trails in the local area. Over the summer months we typically start and finish at a countryside pub, and take in some lovely scenic trails. 

Others will want to take advantage of the experienced England Athletics qualified coaches to improve their race times.

Whatever your reason for joining, if you’ve never tried a running club before, just give it a go… you’ve nothing to lose! 

Am I too slow to join a running club? This is a question we get asked a lot!  “Are you all super speedy, and will I fit in?”  Our membership covers a wide range of speeds so it’s unlikely you’ll be the slowest. We are looking at introducing a couch-to-5km programme, but typically we would expect you to be able to run for up to an hour, albeit at a steady pace.

Do you cater for faster runners? Absolutely, we’re inclusive and cater for runners of all abilities. Those who want to push themselves, or get better race times, will get the most out of the coached training sessions, particularly the Monday track, and Tuesday speedwork evenings. These are fully supported and encouraged by our coaching team.

What type of running do you do?  Whilst we’re called Hart Road Runners, we probably run more on trails and off-road… and our members compete in trail events of all shapes and sizes, road races (marathons, halfs, 10k, 5k etc), and the lively Southern Cross Country League. 

I notice that some of your members do ultra-running? Yes, we’re fortunate to have a few very experienced ultra runners who have taken part in races from 30 to 268 miles. They would be happy to provide advice and share tales from their adventures.

How fast are your Thursday Social runs? If you’re looking to join our Thursday sessions you just need to be able to run for around an hour, with a few short breaks… that works out at about 6 miles – so a fairly gentle pace.  

Over the last summer, we started to try a new format where everyone ran together in one big group… and the faster runners sped off the front, and either waited at the next major junction or looped back to join the slower runners.  This meant that even faster ones got extra miles in and were happy they pushed themselves. 

What are the Tuesday speedwork and/or hill sessions like? The Tuesday sessions are obviously aimed at improving speeds and strength endurance, but you can take these as fast or as slow as you want.  Generally the actual training location is a short (warm-up) run from the meeting point. 

Do you create training plans? Our coaches are also happy to create personalised training plans to help you achieve your running goals.

How do you keep in touch – social media etc? Our members have a very active WhatsApp and (private) Facebook group where they coordinate other events and share gossip, photos from races, or lift-shares etc. Our public Facebook group is really used for showcasing what we do, rather than used for keeping members in touch.

When can I join during the year? Whilst our membership runs from 1st March each year, you can join us at any time of the year. If you join in Jan or Feb, then you won’t have to renew until the following March so will effectively get up to 14 months for the price of 12. We’re fortunate to be in a position where we can offer one of the most cost-effective memberships of all the running clubs in the area.

Does membership include England Athletics?  Yes, our membership fee (£39) includes registering you with England Athletics (Note this has increased from £20 in 2025 to £23 in 2026).

Can I just turn up to one of your training sessions?  Yes of course you can turn up to any of our training sessions and make yourself known to the coach or run leader.  If you have time, please contact us by using the WhatsApp button on this page, or the form below, or simply email [email protected] so that we can keep an eye out for you at the training session. 

Do i have to pay or join straight away? No you don’t – please feel free to try a few of our sessions to get a feel for our club and our members before deciding.