Welcome to the website of the World-famous Hunters Bog Trotters. We consider ourselves to be Edinburgh’s finest and most friendly running club. You’ll find us racing in brown all across Scotland.
HBT was founded in 1980 as a club for runners graduating university who couldn’t face giving up the student lifestyle. Our ethos is all about running and racing for the fun of it – there’s no training plans or minimum required times, and we enjoy a good trip to the pub. In essence, we are for runners who don’t take life too seriously.
A big part of the club is racing. Our members compete in cross-country, hill races, road races, (ultra-)marathons, boat races and pretty much anything else. Sometimes we win things too, which is always a nice bonus, but never the main aim. Our philosophy is that the club has had a good race if we had the first runner, the last runner, and the most runners.
We have many long-standing traditions and social events that might seem strange at first, but all add to the fun of being a Trotter.
Weekly Training
Training makes you better, faster and stronger which are all good for racing. We have several strenuous sessions which happen every week. To participate, you can just turn up on Monday or Thursday and introduce yourself, or email the Captains (Contact Us) with any questions. Our training sessions are:
Trotter Training (TT): Thursday, 7pm at DVC (corner of meadows nearest Summerhall, w3w wrong.nurses.prep). TT is the biggest training session of the week and invariably followed by post-training beers & refreshments in a local drinking establishment. There is sometimes a group run too.
MPC Monday: Monday, 6:30pm usually from the Sainsbury’s on Middle Meadow Walk (w3w honest.damage.crab). The club’s second biggest training session: intervals or hill reps.
Great Brown North: A small group of people who do well at ultras and marathons have a fairly tough session on Tuesdays. The session type changes through the racing year. Ask the Captains at training for details.
Trottettes: Wednesday women’s group run (trans and non-binary inclusive) at a social pace from a member’s house, at 6:30pm followed by dinner. Please chat to one of the Captains or the Trottettes coordinator at one of our training sessions if you wish to join.
Weekend: We’ll be out and about racing in brown. Trotters can usually be found at most local hill, road and cross-country races, apart from the boring commercial ones, and there are often groups going to interesting races further afield.
Members also meet up for bonus training sessions and informal group runs, especially in the Pentlands, and the club organises occasional trips away.
All are welcome: Hunters Bog Trotters are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and the club welcomes everyone who is a bit obsessed with running. Note that:
- training is free, and if after a few sessions you decide to join, membership is less than £30 and free to students and those on low incomes;
- the club’s main training sessions are suitable for a wide range of abilities, although not complete beginners (a typical Thursday session would involve jogging a couple of miles to where the session is taking place at 9-minute mile pace, while chatting, followed by intervals which can be taken at your own pace and a jog back to a local pub);
- the Great Brown North caters for a narrower, faster demographic;
- we don’t have a junior section, you have to be at least 18 to participate;
- we are fully LGBTQ+ inclusive;
- we welcome runners of any race, nationality, ethnic or national origin;
- coming to the pub after training is optional but encouraged;
- drinking alcohol is optional too but not discouraged.
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