http://www.badrat.club/, https://linktr.ee/badratrunners

BAD RAT Runners, Bridgwater (2026)

02/11/2026

Monday Shout Out

Happy Monday you lovely lot!!!

Yes it’s Monday and yes we are all at work 😫 but on the bright side, half term is over and the kids are all back at school 🎉 Whoop whoop for the educational system!! 😉

Before I go into the usual chat about what our club members have been up to this spooky Halloween weekend, I feel that a special mention needs to be made about one of our own members 😊. Now, as some of you may know, there are a few famous ginger haired British runners. For example, there is Russ Cook who is an English endurance runner who made history by becoming the first person to run the entire length of Africa. He covered over 16,300 kilometres across 16 countries in 352 days! There is also Jack Smith who is a highly talented British elite marathoner who made headlines by winning the 2021 Cheshire Elite Marathon in 2:11:00—a race he was originally only supposed to pace for the first 25 kilometres!!! 🤷‍♀️. But the most memorable ginger runner has got to go to our very own club captain Kev who we celebrate this Monday morning as he completed his 100th Parkrun on Saturday at Burnham & Highbridge 🥳. Way to go Kev!!! I can honestly say that I’ve never completed 100 of anything!! (Apart from 🍩 doughnuts, I’m sure that I have completed more than 100 of those in my lifetime 😋) but this isn’t about me, it’s about celebrating Kev and his centurion Parkrun 🙌 Well done Kev (although I am a little disappointed that your tutu didn’t make an appearance for this momentous occasion ) 😉
Obviously he didn’t do it alone though and he was accompanied by a large number of BADRATs 😁. Well done to Peter M, Peter K, Issy C, Gary, Simon, Alison, Allan, disco Ben, Mark H, Mark B, Mel C (who popped her Parkrun cherry 🍒), Jim, Jo BN and Michael.

Back on our home turf of St Matthew’s field Parkrun, we had Emma B who ran in Halloween 🎃 fancy dress and did it in an awesome time. Well done also to Becky K, Kelly L and Beccy S for joining in the fun and also completing the course in great time.

Slightly further afield we had our resident lady Ironman (or should that be Ironwoman??) Becca L who took on a rather spooky 👻 looking Haldon Forest Parkrun through the eerie and misty forest route (very Halloween appropriate!!). Well done Becca!!

And whilst we are on the subject of Ironpeople, our resident Ironman Greg took on Teignbridge Parkrun and flew around the course in an awesome time 🕰️. Well done Greg 🙌

Moving on to Mo Run Sunday where we had a few of our members take on some races in aid of supporting Movember and Mens health. Well done Becky K who completed the Mo Runner Cardiff 10K with a very fetching moustache 🥸 on show and she also bagged herself a new PB!!!
Well done also to Charlotte S who completed the Cardiff 5K Mo Run 🥰

Finally I need to give a special shout out to our very own BADRAT tripod, the lovely Dr Matt. This angel 😇 of a human took on a charity challenge to run 5K every day in October (but actually ended up running a whopping 181kms this month) and in doing so, he has raised an awesome £871 for Prostate Cancer UK. I think that I confidently speak on behalf of your whole BADRAT family when I say how proud we are of your awesome achievement 💪🥰

If you fancy joining us for a run, we have club runs on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings so feel free to come along. Hope to see some of you this week.

Love Lisa ☺️ xx

31/10/2026

Mornin' all and Happy Halloween! 🎃👻

So then, ... whether you're heading out with your little ones on the hunt for sweet treats (carb loading) this evening, or just sitting indoors with the curtains closed, pretending nobody's home when the doorbell rings 🤫👀, whatever you've got planned, we hope you have an awesome day and weekend ahead!

With October coming to an end, we now head into November, and those darker evenings are well and truly here. But fear not, the BADRAT mischief continues , with another week of club runs to keep us moving, catching up with some pretty awesome runners and keeping yourself consistent, by getting those all important miles in. 😁

Here's what's coming up next week!

📆 Monday 2 November - 6:45pm
🏃 Social Run - 3M / 5.1K
📍 Chilton Trinity School

📆 Monday 2 November - 6:45pm
🏃 Social Run - 5M / 8K
📍 Chilton Trinity School

📆 Wednesday 4 November - 6:45pm
🏃 Social Run - 5.6M / 9K
📍 Puriton Village Hall

📆 Thursday 5 November - 6:45pm
🎆 Continuous Run - 6.2M / 10K
📍 Bridgwater Hospital

🔦 Head or chest torches are essential for all our evening runs. Please make sure you're visible, and look out for one another.

So have a brilliant Halloween weekend 👻, enjoy whatever you've got planned, and we'll hopefully see you next week for more miles with the usual mischief!

Bjorn, Team BADRAT

26/10/2026

𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗢𝘂𝘁

Happy National Pumpkin Day! Millions of pumpkins are bought for Halloween each year but only a third end up being eaten afterwards, which is a shame because they’re full of vitamins, antioxidants and iron. The perfect excuse to join our Halloweeny Wednesday run this week and earn that post-run pumpkin soup! 🏃‍♂️🎃👻

Today also marks the 299th day of the year, with only 9 Mondays left of 2026, and our mischief have certainly been out in their hordes this weekend making the most of the time left.

Kicking off the weekend, rats were out and about swarming Parkruns around the country - kudos to you all for getting (battered) out there in the wind and the rain:

💨 Ashton Court, Bristol: Chris S & Zoe S
🌧️ Alvaston, Derby: Kev
💨 Burnham & Highbridge: Ben, Becca L, Bexy, Greg K, Jim, Simon,
🌧️ St Matthew’s Field, Bridgwater: Emma B (1st in her age category) & Becky K

Dr Matt was left drowning his sorrows on Saturday after his Marathon at Eryri in Wales was unfortunately cancelled due to storms Austen & Boele hammering much of the country. Although, I think I’d have been drinking for joy - it’s reputed to be the toughest Marathon in the UK!

Sunday was an even busier day, with one rat pack taking on the moist and muddy Mendip Muddle, a 20km trail race involving 420m of elevation ⛰️ The mad muddlers were April, Becky R, Bjorn, Helen, Kerry, Lisa, Lucy, Martin H, Nicola and Siobhan – well done all! And for once, it wasn’t our resident falling specialist who took a tumble so beware, it appears that the Lisa-effect may be contagious!

Sunday also saw some international mischief, with several of our rats avoiding the storms and heading off to sunnier climates ☀️ Richard C took part in Venice’s 40th anniversary Marathon, and Issy, Jo B-N, Peter K & Vicki D caught some sunshine in Valencia’s sunny Half Marathon.

If you want to come along and try us out, take a look at our Public Strava page for this week’s runs:

📅 Wednesday 28 October – 6.45pm
🎃BADRAT “Halloweeny” Social Run – 3.8M/6.1K
📍North Petherton Community Centre
👻Fancy dress encouraged!

📅Thursday 29 October – 6.45pm
🏃Continuous Run – 6.2M/10k
📍Robert Blake School

Have a great week out there whatever you’re doing – run well and enjoy (and please try to keep the falling to a minimum)! Sarah

24/10/2026

Top of the morning! 👋

Getting in a little reminder that the clocks go back tomorrow, so we get that all-important extra hour in bed (yippee!)! Which will be especially handy for anyone racing this weekend with an early morning in mind, although, if you're like me those pre-race jitters will probably have you up at the crack of dawn anyway! 😂

It's also that time of the month where there isn't the usual brace of Monday social club runs, as it's time for the October edition of the Captains Cup! 🏆

September saw pick up their maiden win, putting a stop to making it four victories on the bounce! 😂 So, with Kev's winning streak finally broken, will Gary's team make it two in a row, or will Kev's lot bounce straight back to form? Who'll be taking the honours this month? 👀🏆

Then on Wednesday, our social runs return and we're heading into Kings Cliff Woods for our BADRAT Halloweeny run! 🎃👻 Fancy dress is very much encouraged, so dig out those spooky outfits and come along for a bit of Halloween fun. Don't worry, no one's getting left behind in those darky and spooky woods, … probably! 😈

So here's what's coming up:

📆 Wednesday 28 October – 6:45pm
🎃 BADRAT 'Halloweeny' Social Run – 3.8M / 6.1K
📍 North Petherton Community Centre
👻 Fancy dress encouraged!

📆 Thursday 29 October – 6:45pm
🏃 Continuous Run – 6.2M / 10K
📍 Robert Blake School

We're fully in the dark evenings now, so please remember your charged head or chest torches for our evening runs. 🔦

Have a great weekend, good luck to those running or racing, and we'll hopefully see you out there for some Halloween mischief next week!

Bjorn, Team BADRAT

20/10/2026

A QUICK UPDATE ON OUR CLUB RUN EVENTS!

Well, thanks to Meta making life that little bit more interesting for us all 🙄😂, we're no longer able to share direct links to our weekly Strava club run events in our Facebook posts.

But don't worry, there's still an easy way to find them!

🔗 Check out the Linktree in our page Bio, where we'll keep links to all our upcoming midweek club runs up to date.

🏃 Alternatively, head straight over to our public Strava club, search for BADRAT Runners, or visit:

👉 www . strava . com / clubs / badratrunners

You'll find our upcoming club runs and event details there.

Same runs, same mischief, just a slightly different way of finding us! 🤷🏻‍♂️

20/10/2026

Thank you to our local Avon and Somerset Police team for supporting us in staying safe when we're out and about! ✨️
We arranged this to tie in with our social run that took place last night - making a visible show of support, and raising awareness of the safety issues so many people, especially women, face when exercising in the darker evenings.
This Girl Can
England Athletics

19/10/2026

Happy Monday BADRATs 🐀💙

Apparently today is Evaluate Your Life Day 🤔✨ A day to take a little step back, reflect on where we are, celebrate how far we've come and think about what makes us happy. Now, I am not suggesting you need to have a full life audit before your next run, but it's a great reminder that life is about more than ticking boxes and chasing PBs. Sometimes it's about getting outside, having a laugh with your running friends, trying something new and appreciating the little things that make us smile. And if running has taught us anything, it's that progress comes in all shapes and sizes - whether that's a new PB, getting round a tough course, or simply turning up when the sofa is calling! 💙🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

So, how did our BADRATs spend their weekend? Let's take a look... 👀

Friday night vibes 🎶

Fun Run & Bass: What better way to kick off the weekend than combining running with a bit of music and a whole lot of fun?! 🎵🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ Allan, Bjorn, Emma H, Helen, Issy, Kerry, Kev, Lisa E, Lisa P, Lucy, Matt, Rach, Sarah L and Siobhan were all there representing the BADRATs! A brilliant way to get those miles in, enjoy the atmosphere and remind ourselves that running doesn't always have to be about the watch or the finish time - sometimes it's just about having a fun time! 💙

Saturday Parkruns 🏁

Bridgwater Parkrun: Becky K (PB! 🥳), Chris and Emma B were back at St Matthew’s Field for their Saturday morning fix! Great to see you both getting those miles in!
Burnham-on-Sea Parkrun: Allan, Issy, Jo, Kelly (PB! 🥳), Peter, Steve S and Tom L were flying the BADRAT flag. Fantastic running everyone!
Longrun Meadow Parkrun: Becca, Greg and Tom C (PB! 🥳) headed to Longrun Meadow. Brilliant running both!
Heaton Parkrun: Martin H was representing the rats over at Heaton. Great effort, Martin!

A little parkrun appreciation 🙌

A big shout-out to all our amazing BADRAT volunteers at Bridgwater, Burnham-on-Sea and Woolavington parkruns! 💙 Parkrun wouldn't happen without you, and giving up your time helps keep these fantastic events going for everyone to enjoy. Whether you're running or volunteering, you're all part of what makes parkrun so special! 🥰

Sunday challenge time

Minehead Triathlon: A huge well done to Becca for taking on the Minehead Triathlon! Swimming, cycling AND running - that's three sports and plenty of opportunities to question your life choices along the way! Fantastic effort, Becca! 🏊‍♀️🚴‍♀️🏃‍♀️
Abingdon Marathon: Another well done to Nicola U for tackling the Abingdon Marathon! 26.2 miles in the legs - amazing effort, Nicola! 👏

Looking ahead: Lift The Curfew 🧡
A quick mention of the event this evening, to support Lift The Curfew and raise awareness of women's safety when exercising outdoors: From 16:30–18:30, the local policing team will be outside 1610 for an informal chat about Violence Against Women and Girls, running safety, and their Walk and Talk initiative. Then at 18:45, there's a BADRAT 6K social run, open to all genders, with glowsticks and bright colours encouraged! ✨It's a brilliant way to show support for everyone who wants to feel safe running outdoors, especially as the evenings get darker. Everyone deserves to feel safe out there 🧡

Whether you were running, volunteering, dancing your way through Fun Run & Bass or tackling a triathlon, there's plenty to celebrate this weekend!

So, in the spirit of Evaluate Your Life Day, take a moment to appreciate your achievements, celebrate someone else's success and thank the people who make your running journey even better. It's not always about the fastest time or the biggest challenge, sometimes it's simply about turning up, having a laugh and being part of something special 💙🐀

Have a fab week everyone… and if your life evaluation concludes that you need more running, more laughs and more time with your BADRAT friends, come and join us at one of our club runs this week 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️…you’ll find all the details on Strava.

Rachel, Team BADRAT

17/10/2026

Good Mornin'☺️

So another weekend is upon us, and we're looking ahead to next week's club runs, and we've got something a little bit different planned for Monday evening! 💛

With the clocks due to go back next weekend, we're fast approaching those even darker autumn and winter evenings! And while for some of us that just means digging out some extra layers or night time running gear, for others, particularly women, it can mean having to think a lot more carefully about when, where and even whether they feel comfortable heading out for a run.

And that's something we should definitely talk about!

🧡 LET'S LIFT THE CURFEW – Monday 19 October 💚

On Monday, BADRAT Runners will be supporting This Girl Can's 'Let's Lift The Curfew' campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the safety concerns and challenges women can face when exercising outdoors after dark.

It's something that ties in closely with what we've always wanted BADRAT to be about. Running should be something everyone can enjoy, without feeling excluded, intimidated or unsafe. So with that in mind, we'll be heading out together for this special social run, and we're encouraging everyone to wear bright colours, bring their lights and help us make a visible statement of support! 🤩

We're also pleased to be joined by our local police team, who'll be hosting an informal pop-up at the event. They'll be there to chat about women's safety, listen to experiences and concerns, and share information about their Walk and Talk initiative. They'll also have a few useful safety freebies available! 🙌🏻

It's not about suggesting that everyone should feel comfortable running alone in the dark, or that simply wearing a torch solves the problem. It's about recognising the concerns exist, talking about it and we hope it may play a part, however small, in making our local Bridgwater community a safer place to get out and active.

We all deserve to feel safe when we're out running, and everyone is welcome to join us. 💙

Anyway, here's what we've got lined up for the week ahead!

📆 Monday 19 October – 'Let's Lift the Curfew' Run 6:45pm, Chilton Trinity School
🏃 Social Run – 3.9M / 6.3K

📆 Wednesday 21 October – 6:45pm, The Green at Wembdon
🏃 Social Run – 5.4M / 8.8K

📆 Thursday 22 October – 6:45pm, Chilton Trinity School
🏃 Social Run – 6.2M / 10K

🔦 And as always at this time of year, head or chest torches are essential for our evening runs.

Hopefully we'll see a good turnout on Monday, and plenty of BADRAT blue (and a splash of neon!) helping to support a very important message.🤗

Have an awesome weekend everyone, and stay safe out there!

Bjorn, Team BADRAT

12/10/2026

Happy Monday, Everybody!

After last weekend’s packed race schedule, it was a quieter one for members looking to add to their ‘bling’ collections this time around. However, some brilliant members of The Mischief have been far and wide over the weekend, spreading the BADRAT awesomeness to all points of the compass at several events, covering various distances. Let’s start with Saturday’s endeavours:

The news of an appearance by Cassie the Caterpillar - aka our very own members Rach, Issy, Becky H, and Jemma - at Burnham and Highbridge Parkrun for her debut, to fundraise for their London Marathon charities, had spread like wildfire throughout the running community. Not wanting to miss out on the opportunity, a larger than normal group of members made up of Kev, Allan, Jim, Mark B, Michael, Kelly, Thomas Lind, Chris S, and Ben joined 381 other like-minded runners and headed North to see her in all her glory on a gusty morning, whilst running through Apex Park, along the River Brue, and the Esplanade. Great work by everybody, especially Cassie, in that wind! If you'd like to sponsor the girls on their London Marathon journey, you can find out more about their chosen charities, and donate using this link: https://gvwhl.com/P7N2R 🐛

Jerry headed East and got himself in a bit of a spin at the Somerdale Parkrun, near Keynsham. For those that don’t know, it has a section in the middle called the Curly Wurly due to the way it is cleverly laid out. You must see it, then run it, to believe it! Well done, Jerry. I hope you didn’t have Jimmy Olsen’s Blues and have to see the Spin Doctors?

Bexy, Beccy R, Becca L, and Greg (aka Becky?) headed South to the Longrun Meadow Parkrun in Taunton for a couple of laps of the paths and tracks that make up the course. Hopefully, the floodgates weren’t opened and the open-sided oak barn at the finish provided some shelter from the morning breeze for the runners. Well done ladies, and Greg.

Peter Knight headed West to the Lough Key Parkrun in Ireland. Fuelled (and some could say affected) by a pint or two of the black stuff the night before, Peter was only third in his age category this week. You’re still a winner for getting out and doing it, even with a ‘foggy’ head! 🇮🇪

James H didn’t fancy a relaxing weekend, so he headed to Cumbria for the Lakes in a Day Ultra; just the small matter of 50 miles and 4000m of ascent, providing a challenging mountain journey from the very top of the Lake District at Caldbeck to the very bottom, at Cartmel, via the stunning Helvellyn Ridge and the western shoreline of Lake Windermere. Great work James. See you for a recovery run on Monday night? ⛰

Richard U is another member who didn’t want an easy weekend, either. So, in true Richard fashion he headed West to Crowcombe for the LDWA’s ‘Somerset NOT Levels’ 50-mile event, which is a qualifier for the Jurassic 100-mile event next year. The route consisted of two loops starting and finishing in Crowcombe; one heading toward the Brendon Hills and the other onto the Quantock Hills, with a total elevation gain of just over 2400 metres! Well done on achieving the qualification for the 100-miler Richard, another fantastic performance. ⛰

Sunday saw a small number of members heading North, East, and South-West to take part in events.

Starting with our oldest member Peter M, who headed North to Chester to take part in the Marathon, hoping to secure a place in the England Team for his VM80 age group. Sadly, Peter dropped out after 11.5 miles. He’ll be the first to admit that his training has been hampered by injury and ill-health recently, but it takes guts and determination to get to the start line of ANY event, even more so when you’re not at your best and a chance to represent your Country is on the line. Well done, Peter! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

The winner of the ‘BADRAT Runners Judith Chalmers Award’ this week is Siobhan, who grabbed her passport, boarded a plane, and headed East for an all-inclusive girlie weekend with a difference. Having ignored the numerous winter sun destinations on the flight departures board, she opted for the Sparkasse 3-Länder-Marathon; a fast, flat, point-to-point asphalt surface Marathon that starts in Germany and crosses through Austria and Switzerland. Starting on the island of Lindau, runners take in the picture-book impressions along Lake Constance and feel the goosebumps at the entrance to the finish in Bregenz. With 60% of the course following the shores of the lake, runners are surrounded by beautiful, snow-capped mountains, and with a total elevation gain of just 17 metres, there is no need to have a head for heights. Great work from you Siobhan! 🛫 🇩🇪🇨🇭🇦🇹 🏔

Allan, the resident off-road LiRF, headed South-West to take on The Loop!, a challenging 20-mile trail event in South Devon starting at Broadsands Beach. For the first 6 miles, the route heads inland through Churston, Galmpton, Greenway, then into Long Wood and Hoodown Wood, before crossing the steam railway to the River Dart and Kingswear, before joining the South West Coast Path for the remaining 14 miles, taking runners along woodland cliff paths, coves, beaches and stunning scenic hills to Brixham Harbour on the way to the finish back at Broadsands. Having done this event last year, I highly recommend giving it a go, just maybe not on a cold, blustery, and wet October morning though! Great work Allan. ⛰

If you’d like to see what BADRAT Runners is all about, feel free to come along and give us a try. You can find all the Club runs on Strava, here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/badratrunners

Have a great week, everybody!

Kev, Team BADRAT

10/10/2026

Morning all! 👋🐀

So today is World Mental Health Day 💙 and rather than jumping straight into the usual weekend club runs post, I thought it was worth taking a moment to touch on something that's important to all of us, whether we always realise it or not.

I think we're all getting better at talking about mental health, but we all have our good and bad days. Sometimes life just gets a bit too much, whether that's work, family or just the general pressures of everyday life.

The thing is, we never really know what someone else might be going through. Just because someone appears happy, is having a laugh or seems to have everything together, doesn't necessarily mean that's how they're feeling on the inside.

When I originally set out to create BADRAT, one of the key things that was super important to me was building a club around inclusivity, not exclusivity. Somewhere people could feel welcome, regardless of their running ability, experience or what they wanted to get out of running. But it was also about creating something more than just a group of people who meet up to run a few miles each week. I wanted us to build a genuine supportive community, where friendships develop, people look out for one another and everyone feels comfortable being themselves.

I mention this as I think it's especially relevant today. I'm certainly not suggesting being a runner or part of a running community or a 'mischief' such as ours fixes everything, because it doesn't! But I do believe that having people around you, feeling included and knowing there's someone you can talk to can make a real difference. That's something I'd genuinely like to think we've created here, and something I hope we can continue to build on and share! 🤗

If this sounds like something you'd like to experience or be a part of, then why not give us a try. We've got our usual midweek club run line up on offer :

📆 Monday 12 October – 6:45pm, Chilton Trinity School
🏃 Social Run – 3.1M / 5K
🔗 https://www.strava.com/clubs/1027753/group_events/3542824197930675772

📆 Monday 12 October – 6:45pm, Chilton Trinity School
🏃 Social Run – 5M / 8K
🔗 https://www.strava.com/clubs/1027753/group_events/3542645993114822008

📆 Wednesday 14 October – 6:45pm, North Petherton Community Centre
🏃 Social Run – 5M / 8K
🔗 https://www.strava.com/clubs/1027753/group_events/3542647870799416696

📆 Thursday 15 October – 6:45pm, Robert Blake School
🏃 Social Run – 6.2M / 10K
🔗 https://www.strava.com/clubs/1027753/group_events/3542821389705018940

So perhaps today is a good opportunity to check in on someone, ask how they're doing and, importantly, take the time to listen. Sometimes just being there is enough.

And equally, if you're the one having a tough time, I hope you feel comfortable knowing there's someone in the mischief you can reach out to.💙

Look after yourselves, and each other.

Bjorn, Team BADRAT