Wiltshire Off-Road Race Series 2026/27
Qualifying events:
Wiltshire Athletics run both on and off road leagues. For the Wiltshire Off Road League (WORL) there are 8 races plus a social run at the end of the season. Races start in October and finish in March. The races vary in distance (10K to 12 miles) and level of challenge (SMaRRT (flat) to Terminator (not flat – its in the name!). Most are very off road! For WORL there are both individual and teams standing (male and female). Any member of Avon Valley Runners can enter any event. An AVR standing is run alongside side the WORL standing, this gives club members better visibility of where they are against club mates (updated and published after each race). AVR standing scoring is different to WORL, see below for detail of AVR scoring (WORL scoring detail to follow). Race events for the 2026 -2027 season are:
Race: 1 Mells Mash-Up (7miles) 20th September 2026 - COMPLETE
Formerly known as: Mells Scenic
Hosted by WORL Member Club: Frome Running Club
Race 2: Mother Tuckers (10km) 4th October 2026 - COMPLETE
Trail run
Hosted by WORL Member Club: Somer Athletic Club
The junior race is also in the Wiltshire Junior Race League. Camping available onsite. Pub at the location for Sunday Lunch - book in advance!! Race Village is top notch!!
Race 3: White Horse Gallop (12km) 18th October 2026 - CANCELLED
Hosted by: Redfish Events
Based at Westbury Leisure Centre giving a sometimes needed shelter from the weather! A super race including a scramble to one of our local White Horse's.
Race 4: Avon Valley Runners Over the Hills (12km) 8th November 2026 - COMPLETE
Hosted by WORL Member Club: Avon Valley Runners
Based in or around The Tithe Barn in Bradford on Avon. Includes the much revered River Crossing . Run in conjunction with Alzheimer's Society, the cake sale afterwards is amazing!
Race 5: Avebury 8 Nine (~9miles) 15th November 2026
Hosted by Marlborough Running Club
Enter Here: Avebury8 Nine 2026 | Marlborough Running Club - RaceNation
Not too hilly but challenging! Finishers get a much sort after hand thrown mug. Profits go to Wiltshire and Bath Air ambulance.
Race 6: Slaughterford 9 (9 miles) 24th January 2027
Hosted by Chippenham Harriers
Enter Here: Chippenham Harriers - RaceNation
Event Site: Slaughterford 9 - Chippenham Harriers
The Slaughterford 9 is a multi-terrain race over around 9 (about 8.5) miles of steeply undulating countryside, carrying a sting in its tail! Whilst tackling around 900 feet of ascent/descent in the Slaughterford valley, runners will encounter tarmac, stony paths, fields, tracks and green lanes. So, this is a typically technical course and during winter you can expect to find varying quantities of muddy paths.
Race 7 SMaRTT Smasher (10km) 14th February 2027
Hosted By Calne SMaRTT Running and Triathlon Club.
The Smartt Smasher 10K is a 10K race based in Calne, Wiltshire, taking place on Sunday 14 February 2027.
Enter Here: TBC
Race 8 Pewsey Terminator (12 miles) 28th February 2027
Hosted by Pewsey Vale Running Club
Enter Here: The Terminator 2027 - EntryCentral
This a challenging, multi-terrain course of approximately 12 miles with a gentle start across fields. It then gets serious with several climbs, a sting in the tail and glorious views.
Race 9: Lungbuster 9 (9miles) 7th March 2027:
Hosted by Royal Wootton Bassett Hounds.
5 mile and 9 mile options
Enter Here: Event: Lungbuster 2027
Starts and finishes at Broad Hinton, having to climb that infamous Lungbusting hill - twice! As always, great cakes to look forward to.
Detail of AVR Standing Scoring:
If you are the AVR winner of a race you get 1 point, come second 2 points and so on (the runner with the lowest number of points at the end of the season is the overall winner). There are separate standings for male and female.
However if you don’t enter one of the races (but have entered others) then you get the number of points given to the last person in the busiest race plus 5 points. As an example for men, the busiest race last season (2025-2026) was race 1 with male 20 entrants, so the points went from 1 to 20. For race 2 there were 7 entrants (who got points from 1 to 7). Those who had entered race 1 but not race 2 would get 20+5 = 25 points for race 2.
We try and encourage participation and performance by rewarding both. You can see that the busiest race figure is a dynamic number, could be a latter race has 22 entrants (good if it happened) in which case I would recast the table (22+5 = 27 for men).
Wiltshire Road and Off-Road Race League Rules
The rules were clarified in August 2026. Follow the links to see the rules:
Wiltshire-Road-and-Off-Road-Race-League-Rules-Aug-26.pdf
Wiltshire Road and Off-Road Race League Rules – Wiltshire Athletics Association
Wiltshire Athletics Association Rule: Athlete Club Affiliation
Athletes must be members of a club affiliated to Wiltshire Athletics Association to take part in the Wiltshire running leagues and championships, and must also be EA affiliated (paid England Athletics fees, typically through club membership).
If an athlete has both a first‑claim and second‑claim club within the league, they must always compete under their first‑claim club. When only one of their clubs is affiliated, they may compete for whichever club is eligible.
Athletes may change clubs mid‑season, but they must inform the league organiser so their results can be correctly aggregated in the individual standings. Where this change takes place the individual will be scoring for the club identified in the race results at the time of the race, so long as the rules in regards to first-claim/second-claim are still valid. Typically this is where the first-claim has changed. Athletes are requested not to simply switch their first/second claim clubs mid-season as this will be difficult to manage and may result in the results being adjusted back to the original first claim club (based on first race entered).
Athletes cannot switch from first‑claim to second‑claim when both clubs are in the league; only the first‑claim club may be used. Where necessary, results will be adjusted after races to reflect this.
Wiltshire Athletics Association Rule: Unauthorised Bib exchanges
To protect athlete safety, ensure fair competition, and comply with local race rules, the unauthorised swapping or use of bib numbers is strictly prohibited. Any athlete who deliberately runs under a bib or name not assigned to them by the race organiser may be disqualified from the race in which the infringement occurs. At the discretion of the league manager or secretary, this may also result in disqualification from that season’s league.