Love the slog t-shirt but missed the chance to buy one? Well you’re in luck – we’ve re-opened the online store for another couple of weeks. The store will remain open until 11am on December 1st, after which all shirts will be produced and shipped out to you directly around the middle of January.
To order your shirt simply visit: https://scimitarevents.com/product-category/sodbury-slog/
The Sodbury Slog race t-shirts have always been incredibly popular and are often seen being sported by runners across the south west. With a different design each year, the high-quality technical running shirts have become collectors items and are always worn with pride. While we may have introduced a few changes this year, we are sticking with tradition and offering the same great shirts, still made from recycled material, still offered in male and female styles, and with a fresh new design for 2021.
However, listening to a growing community voice around reducing waste, this year we have decided to make t-shirts an optional extra. This means those who feel they have enough race t-shirts or do not want to contribute to a growing collection of unwanted race shirts, can opt out, and reduce the number of shirts produced. Those who would like a shirt will be able to order one from our online store from Monday 2nd August. In recognition of this change we have this year reduced the entry fee of the race to only £15 for affiliated runners and £17 for unaffilliated. This fee covers the same great race, with the same support from volunteers and sponsors, and for the first time – a new Sodbury Slog medal to boot.
As well as t-shirts we will also be selling other Sodbury Slog merchandise, namely hoodies, beanies, and buffs, all branded with the event logo. All items ordered will be collated and produced for delivery direct to the customer prior to the event in November. Please check back to our website after the store has opened to see the products on offer, to place your order, and help support us and our charity partners.
The Sodbury Slog has always had charity at its heart and over the years has raised tens of thousands of pounds for a whole range of incredible charities and fantastic causes. From the 2019 race alone over £5500 was directly donated by the event, and over £6000 was also raised for our charity partners. This year is no exception, and we are very pleased to be continuing to support Jessie May, and excited to be able to announce that this year we will also be supporting Cystic Fibrosis Trust. Both are incredible causes and we are pleased to be partnering with them this year. Both of our charity partners have a number of guaranteed entries for the 2021 race, which you can register your interest for right now.
Jessie May is a charity that provides hospice at home care for terminally ill children in Bristol and the surrounding area. The charity was set up by the parents of Jessica May Purrington, a little girl who died at home aged 4 months, surrounded by her family and her nurses. Jessie May has a team of dedicated nurses who provide care to children and families during a child’s life and after their death.
To apply for a guaranteed entry for the 2021 Sodbury Slog and run for Jessie May simply drop them an email on clare.pearce@jessiemay.org.uk or give them a call on 0117 9582174.
The Cystic Fibrosis Trust is fighting for a life unlimited for everyone affected by cystic fibrosis. Our mission is to create a world where being born with CF no longer means a lifelong burden of care and an early death, when everyone living with the condition will be able to look forward to a long, healthy life.
To apply for a guaranteed entry for the 2021 Sodbury Slog and run for Cystic Fibrosis Trust simply drop them an email on events@cysticfibrosis.org.uk or give them a call on 020 3795 2176.
Oh yeah baby, it’s true – we are back! The mud is back, the flapjacks are back, even the bugler is back. We. Are. Back.
After much planning, some crying, and even more hair-pulling, we have decided that we are finally good to go for 2021. While life is not yet fully back to normal, there is nothing currently stopping us from holding this year’s event as close to normal as possible. So, brace yourself for a firehose of information.
Because we are already much later in the year than we would normally be we do have to do things slightly differently, and we also have a reduced window of time to work within. We know you all understand that, but if we want a race (and we all do) this is how we have to do it.
This is the core information that you need to know right now:
More specific details on the ballot entry system can be found on our Ballot Entry Details page. Please read it very carefully.
We will release more information over the coming days, but right now get your keyboards ready to go, call up your friends, shout at your family (in a nice excited kind of way), and holler from the rooftops. Sodbury Slog Entries are opening – VERY SOON
For as many years as I can remember I’ve found myself stood in the car park of Chipping Sodbury Sports Centre on Remembrance Sunday as the clock struck 11. I’ve always found the silence of one-thousand plus people bowing their heads in remembrance to be deafening, beautiful, and incredibly moving. This Remembrance Sunday that same car park will be silent once again, but it’s a different kind of silence this year, because none of us are there.
Back in the spring, as the coronavirus pandemic that has shaped so much of our lives this year seemed like just another virus that would pass, we deliberated hard on how best to plan for this year to ensure we didn’t take anyone’s money without knowing we could hold the event, or be able to return it if we couldn’t. Every angle and timeline we laid out in front of us was a difficult choice, with the ultimate choice being to not hold an event at all. Eventually that was the decision we took, and while at the time it was a hard call to make, it’s clear to see this morning that it was the right one.
Not since the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak of 2001 have the streets and muddy fields of Chipping Sodbury been so quiet on this special day. It would have been a very wet and muddy one this year for sure. With all the rain we’ve had over the autumn and even the rain today, there would be plenty of mud to go around. But that mud isn’t going anywhere, and it’ll all still be waiting next year, when we hope we will be ready to fill the car park with silence once again.
As we move into 2021 we will start to plan for the next race, the next time we will see each other in the mud of South Gloucestershire, and the next time we can smile as we dance with Terry the Tornado. Until then, stay safe.
When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today.
After closely monitoring the ongoing situation surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak and the guidance issued by the Government, we have today taken the difficult decision to cancel this year’s Sodbury Slog.
Despite the reduction in the rate of infections and easing of the national lockdown, it is still not clear when restrictions on mass gatherings of people for sporting events will be lifted, enabling running events such as ours to take place. Because of this uncertainty we have decided, with only four months until the event, it is simply not possible for us to confidently push forward with the race this year.
With around 1100 runners taking part and over 100 volunteers enabling them to do so, we consider the safety of all our competitors, supporters, partners, and volunteers paramount. Without the clarity of being able to host an event safely we will not put them at risk.
Organised by Bitton Road Runners, the Sodbury Slog is an extremely popular and long-standing event in the South West running calendar. With 2020 being our 30th anniversary year, we have worked hard on plans to celebrate this, so we appreciate how disappointing this will be for a great many runners, but we are also sure everyone will understand why this decision has been made.
As much as a great muddy trawl through the South Gloucestershire countryside, the Sodbury Slog has always had the local community and charity at heart and has raised tens of thousands of pounds for good causes over the years. It is a heritage we fully intend to continue when we return, hopefully in November 2021.
As we continue to move through the year and the circumstances around COVID-19 restrictions slowly begin to change, we are continuing to monitor both government guidance and the unfolding situation with other running events scheduled to take place towards the end of the year.
While some of our freedoms are starting to return, it is important to understand that there is a big difference between meeting family and friends for outdoor exercise with social distancing in place, and gathering over 1000 people together for a race, even if it is through the wide-open space of the South Gloucestershire countryside.
As the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold and as yet with no clarity around either lifting of the lockdown or the staging of sporting events involving mass gatherings of people, we wanted to update you on what we are doing behind the scenes for this year’s Sodbury Slog.
As we have said previously, while we want nothing more than to give you all something to look forward to in November, we absolutely don’t want to take any money from you without certainty that the event will go ahead this year. To do that we need clear guidance from the UK government, Sodbury Council, and the ARC (our affiliated governing body) that the race will actually be able to take place safely in November. Right now that information simply isn’t available, which is why we are holding off on making any further decisions regarding this year’s event.
It is fair to say that at this point any event that does take place this year will very likely be different to the event we had planned, and that we have already talked about. But we’re sure you’ll agree that any Slog will be better than no Slog. Which is why we are still considering all possibilities and remain committed to getting you back knee-deep in the South Gloucestershire mud as soon as we can.
As an organising committee we are still talking often, continuing to read all news and guidance around sporting events, and meeting regularly to discuss the situation and the options available to us as time moves on. So please keep watching our usual channels for more information, and please stay home and stay safe.
With the uncertainty of the coming months due to Coronavirus Covid-19, we have taken the decision to delay opening the ballot until the ongoing situation becomes clearer.
Just like any sizeable event, as we move towards the actual date we become more financially committed and it makes it impossible for us to be able to refund entry fees without losing money. The Sodbury Slog is not a large scale commercial event, and most of our profit is donated to local charities. This is why our terms and conditions state that we do not offer refunds. Put simply, we want to ensure that before we take any of your hard-earned cash, we are as confident as we can be that we will be able to safely host the event you pay to enter.
To be clear, there are currently no plans for postponing or cancelling this year’s event. We hope that by November we will all be in a very different place, but we are acutely aware that this unprecedented disruption, to even our day-to-day lives, means that everybody is (quite rightly) focusing on the short term.
Rest assured that a huge amount of planning has already gone into the event for this year and work will continue behind the scenes ready for our 30th anniversary and the usual Remembrance Day mudfest.
Please keep an eye on this website and our social media channels for further updates in coming weeks as we know more about how things are unfolding. Stay safe, keep positive, and look out for each other.
Everybody likes a bit of bling. Which is why this year – for the first time ever – to celebrate our 30th anniversary we are going to be handing out amazing Sodbury Slog medals to all finishers.
But this isn’t going to be instead of a t-shirt, it’s as well as. Wait what? What’s the catch I hear you say? No catch, and more importantly, there will be no price increase from last year.
That’s right, for the same low fee of £23 for affiliated runners, and £25 for those unaffiliated, not only will you get to run undoubtedly the best multi-terrain race in the South West, but also swagger home with a shiny special edition Slog medal big enough to fill the palm of your hand, and an even more special long-sleeve technical t-shirt with a retro-inspired design
If you’re lucky you will also get to take home a couple of sock-fulls of South Gloucestershire mud. You can never say we don’t give you value for money.