Welcome to Ipswich Trail Runners

Suffolk's community trail running club

Whether you're just lacing up your trail shoes for the first time or chasing ultra goals, you're in the right place. Ipswich Trail Runners is a friendly, inclusive club for all paces and all levels – united by a love of fresh air, mud-free paths (mostly!), and the freedom of running wild.

Join the Adventure

With weekly group runs, beginner-friendly sessions, expert coaching, and stunning local routes across Suffolk, there's something for everyone. Our club is built on connection, confidence, and community – and we’d love you to be a part of it.

✅ Trail runs 4x a week
✅ No pace requirements
✅ 7-day free trial
✅ Nutrition support & coaching available
✅ Friendly, welcoming vibe guaranteed

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Trail Talk: It's okay to not be okay 💚

Trail Talk: Peaks, pumpkins, and a prize draw

Trail Talk: Ollie ran 100k, and we made you a recipe book

@npr sent a reporter through a full body workup before her marathon, DEXA scan, VO2 max test, gait analysis, the lot. The verdict from the exercise scientist running the tests? Marathon training is genuinely good for you, when it’s built right. The risk isn’t the distance, it’s doing too much, too soon. Even the knee cartilage dip researchers found right after a race was fully gone by 6 months later. Swipe through for what the science actually says 👟

What’s your biggest worry about starting marathon training, is it your joints, your time, or just not knowing where to start? Tell me below 👇

#MarathonTraining #RunningScience #IpswichTrailRunners #TrailRunningCoach #RunnersOfInstagram #MarathonPrep #RunCoach”

Busy week, good week. Jimmy’s Farm daytime 6k and 5K Your Way at Waldringfield on Tuesday, Pin Mill social on Wednesday, the very first Your First Ultra session on Thursday, and Parkrun Plus on Saturday where Kesgrave parkrun is just the warm up for 11 trail miles. All paces welcome, as ever. See you out there 🏔️

#ipswichtrailrunners #trailrunning #suffolkrunning #runningclub

THE FORT.

I don’t think we need to say much more than well done to all our runners who took on this tough course today.

We even came away with a 3rd place finish.

Teamwork and comeraderie make this sport so special

#ipswichtrailrunners #thefort @trailrunnersclubs @run_with_gav @coastaltrailrunners

Nike just relaunched their entire ACG line around trail running: new Zegama and Pegasus Trail shoes out now, a flagship called the Picklejus (yes, really) in development with a grippier outsole built for wet rock and loose dirt, all because the sport's exploded into a $10 billion market. We didn't need a press release to tell us trails are the best way to run, but it's nice watching the big brands catch up to something our mud-caked trainers have known for years. New to it all? That's exactly what Open Trail Night is for, and it's happening tomorrow! No fancy kit required, just head torches, good company, and a very warm welcome.

#TrailRunningBoom #IpswichTrailRunners #SuffolkTrails #NewToTrail #TrailRunningUK

Right, a little bit of everything on this week but the big one is Sunday 11th, because The Fort 20 is happening and I need you all there 💚

This is @coastaltrailrunners race, which means our very own Hayley and Dan are running the show, and it's such a gorgeous, slightly bonkers idea for a route. It starts and finishes inside the walls of Landguard Fort in Felixstowe (an actual 18th century fort, with English Heritage on board), then loops 20 miles out across two nature reserves, two river estuaries and, yes, past the Port. Mixed trail, fully marked, 9am start and a six hour cut off, so there'll be runners coming through all morning and into the afternoon.

Entries have closed now, so if you're not running it, you're cheering it. Grab a flask, bring the cowbells, bring your loudest voice and your silliest sign, and come and stand at the Fort or out on the course somewhere and make some noise for everyone going round. Twenty miles is a long way and nothing helps more than a friendly face shouting your name at mile 17. Let me know in the comments if you're coming down and we'll sort a spot to gather.

Before all that, the usual lovely weeknight stuff: 5K Your Way on Tuesday from Suffolk Food Hall, Open Trail Night on Wednesday from The Fountain (5k or 10k, your call), and Fitness & Technique on Thursday doing Felixstowe hills and speed. All 18:30, all paces welcome, as always.

See you out there 🏰🏃‍♀️

#IpswichTrailRunners #TheFort20 #CoastalTrailRunners #Felixstowe #SuffolkTrails #TrailRunning #AllPacesWelcome

New UK running data out this week (https://www.sportsshoes.com/advice/running-hub/health-wellbeing/running-reportshows) shows that group runs are up again this year with nearly 1 in 10 runs are now done with others, not solo. Makes sense to us. Here’s the stat that really caught our eye: over a third of runners who’ve never tried trails say it’s because it feels too isolating. That’s the gap we built ITR to close: head torches, a friendly pace group, and people who’ll happily point out where the mud is. If trails have been on your maybe-list, this is your call.

#CommunityRunning #TrailRunningClub #IpswichTrailRunners #RunTogether #SuffolkTrailRunning

This one's for the people who show up every single week, rain or shine, headtorch on. @englandathletics ' Volunteer Awards has an "Unsung Hero" category this year, for the coaches, run leaders and helpers who make clubs like ours what they are; so here's our own version. Gav, our Backyard Ultra and long-distance king who never stops helping new runners find their feet. Rob, the Labrador of the trails, community first, always up for a laugh. Dan C and Hayley, co-directing Coastal Trail Runners on top of leading our own sessions week in, week out. Dan U, stolen from the cycling world and already leading from the heart. Gem, who found her people at an Open Trail Night and became a leader herself. And Adam, our newest recruit, turning Tuesday nights into a party and cataloguing every ancient tree along the way. ITR wouldn't exist without every single one of you. Thank you for the miles, the torches, and every nervous first-timer put at ease. 💚 Tag a run leader (or session mate!) who's shaped your ITR journey below 👇

#RunLeaders #ThankYouThursday #TrailRunningCommunity #IpswichTrailRunners #VolunteersMakeItHappen

Four runs, four chances to find your people this week. Tuesday it's the daytime session at Jimmy's Farm (for the mid-morning escapees) and 5K Your Way from The Ship Inn at Levington, Wednesday we're out at Shotley with a 7 or 12km option, and Sunday we open October with the Stutton 9 Miler. No stopwatches, no one left behind, just good trails and better company, and if you've been lurking on here wondering whether you're "trail enough", you are, come and see. Link to book in the comments 👇

Thinking about your first ultra? It’s not just a long marathon, and nobody tells you that until you’re typing “I’m going to DNF” to a friend who did not ask for that today.

Six weeks, from Thursday 15 October. We’ll cover the training you actually need, how to fuel for hours, what goes in your pack, and how to get through aid stations. Then we finish with a full race simulation at Sea You in Felixstowe, with marshals and a proper aid station, so nothing on the day is a surprise.

You do NOT need to be a member of Ipswich Trail Runners. You don’t need to be fast, and you don’t need to have run an ultra before. Everyone is welcome, whether you’re a regular trail runner or a total beginner who just wants to know what you’re getting into.

Book the full course or pick individual sessions. Link in bio. Do it before you talk yourself out of it again.

#firstultra #ultrarunning #trailrunning #suffolkrunning

Um, how good was it to see the rain yesterday? The grass is actually green now!

#ipswichtrailrunners #runclub

Sea, sand, and sweat?

#ipswichtrailrunners #runclub #trailrunninguk

Stopped dead mid route last night because of this tree. One unit of an oak that’s obviously been standing there since before any of us were born. Half of us stood next to it looking relatively normal, and the other half reaching up for a branch that’s twenty feet too high: sums ITR up really 🤷‍♀️

Jokes aside, this has become a Tuesday night thing now, we keep finding these trees on the route and logging them for the @woodlandtrust ‘Ancient Tree Inventory’ as we go. Over 233,000 trees on there so far and we’re slowly adding to it one detour at a time.

We don’t just run, we out here doing tree admin on a Tuesday.

#ipswichtrailrunners #woodlandtrustuk #runclub #nationaltreeinventory

Bits of a summer that isn’t done with us just yet... Trails gone dry and cracked underfoot instead of soft and spongy.
Headtorches collecting dust, because the light just kept staying.
Legs covered in dust instead of the usual puddle scum. Runs that started too hot and happened anyway, because that’s just what we do

Whatever you’re doing with this bank holiday weekend, hope it’s a good one. When September rolls around and routine calls, we’ll be here waiting for you.

#ipswichtrailrunners #runclub #trailrunning #trailrunninguk #trailrunnersclubs

NO MEMBERSHIP OR EXPERIENCE NEEDED 💁‍♀️

Thinking about trying trail running but don’t know where to start? Come meet us at The Fountain in Tuddenham 02/09/26 @ 18:30 and we will show you how. We will have two loop options so you can go as far or as easy as you like, and one of our leaders running with you the whole way so you’re never out there guessing. Bring a headtorch and that’s it! This is the. Ight we build for people who have been meaning to come and never quite made it, so if that’s you, come find us.

#ipswichtrailrunners #opentrailnight #ipswichrunning #ipswich

A shiny new long run for you this weekend! Thinking about it?

You don’t need to live near hills. You don’t need to have “always been a runner.” You don’t need the right gear, or the right pace, or the right anything.

Trail running isn’t serious unless you want it to be. Turn up in whatever you’ve got, on whatever week you’re having, and we’ll figure the rest out together, ok? ✌️

That’s it. That’s the club.
Ipswich Trail Runners

#ipswichtrailrunners #runclub #trailrunninguk

What a race. A firm fixture in many of the ITR members calendar each year, and we love to love it. We train together each week, four times a week if you’re up for it, so we can do cool stuff like this. We had 5 runners out, 4 on the 50k and one out on the 100k. We might be crazy, but we think it’s awesome! 🙌

#ipswichtrailrunners #runclub #trailrunninguk #svp100

Do Wednesday’s really ever get any better than this?
(Yes, I know it’s Friday, but there’s no club tonight and we’re longing for the trails!) Join us tomorrow for our long run, or hop in next week starting with our Tuesday 5k 🏃🏻‍♀️🏃‍♂️

#ipswichtrailrunners #runclub #trailrunninguk

Yeah. It’s August already!! We’ve got you covered this summer, if you need to smash out an interval session in great company, chill out midweek with your new besties on the dusty trails, or you’d like to clock up your mileage with navigation worries deleted..:. We got you.

#runclub #ipswichtrailrunners #trailrunnersclubs

Wednesday night club run, as told by our new best friend: 🐴

There was a field of wildflowers taller than some of us 👀 Was this a fairytale or a trail run? It’s ok, at this time of year sometimes it’s hard to tell.

Levington said, “Here’s your horse, here’s your sunset, go run off with your running spouses in it.”

10/10 Run, 10/10 horse, 10/10 runners. Would recommend.

#trailrunnersofinstagram #ipswichtrailrunners #trailrunnersclubs

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