Long runs and lasting friendships with UNSW Campus Runners

Whether you're a competitive runner or someone who runs for fun, UNSW Campus Runners welcomes everyone.

Published on the 07 May 2026

Members of the UNSW Campus Runners running through a park

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What exactly is the UNSW Campus Runners run club?

There's something about running that forever appeals to people, so much so that run clubs have spiked in popularity over the last few years. On paper, the UNSW Campus Runners (aka RunSoc) is a simple run club filled with people who like putting one foot in front of the other repeatedly at a high pace.

But dig a bit deeper and you quickly realise that RunSoc is something of a UNSW institution with a budding community who simply love the exercise. The club has been running — literally — since around 2018 and has only grown from strength to strength since.

"Last year [in 2025], we had close to 1,000 members. Right now [as of March 2026], we have 141," says Raymond Wu, a fifth-year Electrical Engineering and Computer Science student and Co-President of RunSoc. "We're not going up to people's faces and telling them to sign up [laughs]. You can sign up whenever you like, so we're expecting around 1,000 members again by the end of the year."

1,000 members puts RunSoc in the upper echelons of club size, which in turn means there's a LOT of running involved (unsurprisingly) every term, week in week out.

"We offer four runs every single week. Every Monday of term are track sessions and it's for people who want to improve more," explains Raymond. "Tuesdays are 'bagels' and it's for people who have work. They can't join every afternoon or evening run, so [this is] a 7am run, finish about 8am, get a coffee and then go to work.

"Thursdays we have 'SheCan' [which is] to get more women involved and to give them a safe space [to run]. Friday is more our social [gathering] where we put our bags down in a room and go somewhere, like Coogee Beach or anywhere close to UNSW to de-stress. For the more adventurous, we have Sunday trails where we go trail running in the Blue Mountains, Kiama or the north."

A club for competitive runners and newcomers alike

The early days of RunSoc were tinged with a level of competitiveness that perhaps put off potential members who were more casual runners. Raymond notes how the club realised this and strived to open things up to everyone, irrespective of their running ability. This has led to an incredibly supportive and empowering community where competition still exists, but the most important thing is for members to enjoy themselves.

"When [RunSoc] just started, it was very competitive. Now, the direction is we want to cater to those competitive, but also to people from all abilities, even the beginners, and trying to give them an easy option to join."

"[RunSoc] was started by people who were very, very passionate about running. Most of them were from Sydney Boys High School, which was known as a pretty sporty school," laughs Raymond. "Back then, I would say the sessions were really quick, really fast, really long runs. Now we are leaning more towards the 'very chill' [vibe]."

As one might expect from such a large club, there's a wide skill level range. Couple that with 15 to 40 members turning up for any given weekly running session ("depending on the weather"), it's become important to ensure everyone is catered for properly. To keep things as accessible as possible, there are three different running group levels sorted by pace and distance.

"We have three different group levels. We have a short, a medium and a long group. What varies is the distance and the pace," explains Raymond. "For every group, we have 'pacers', who make sure no one gets lost. There's one at the back and one at the front."

"For each group, we tell them what the estimates are in terms of how fast [they] should be going. But the most important thing is catering to the speed of the group. If the long group wants to go faster, they usually go a lot faster. If we notice a lot more people [in the short group] are walking, then we'll slow down the pace. So we make a very conscious effort to make sure no one gets lost or left behind."

Levelling up through brand collabs and social events

Working closely with brands and sponsors is pretty standard for a popular UNSW club or team. Just look at Redback Racing, the Chinese Student Association or the Railway Society.

For RunSoc, Raymond notes that the current iteration is perhaps the most "proactive" when it comes to reaching out to all kinds of brands for collaborations.

"We try to make it a win-win situation with every single collab, every single brand. They provide us with a spokesperson to give nutritional lessons or lectures, or some kind of samples, like gels or food or anything nutritionally related.

"What we'll do is take these brands and samples and we'll give them to our community."

"Our Events Director, Ren, is doing an amazing job and she's been reaching out to different brands, like shoe brands, gel brands and health-related food brands," says Raymond. "We have a collab almost every single Friday this term. We had one with MapleROO, we had one with Nike and they came with a shoe trial. We also had Health Lab, which is a nutrition ball."

In addition to all these brands supporting the club and its activities, the benefits trickle down to its members in meaningful ways, such as having free samples and experts providing health advice. The aim is to have RunSoc members be the first people to benefit from all the brands supporting the club.

Beyond having brand collaborations, Raymond says that RunSoc is aiming to do more cross-society collaborations whenever possible.

"Arab Society are joining a running event called Wings for Life, which is for spinal cord research, so it's a very virtuous event," says Raymond. "They want to give their members a training session in preparation for the event, so they reached out to us. We were happy to collab, so we're designing a training session around that event with [them]."

"We did have past collaborations with [the Adventure Society], which revolved more around hiking, but we would love to collab with more societies. It's something we might look [more] into!"

A community that goes the distance

That supportive community feeling extends beyond UNSW, as RunSoc has also been collaborating with other Sydney universities for what is effectively a giant inter-uni run club gathering. As it turns out, it's a fantastic way to meet new people outside of the UNSW bubble while also having a bit of social competitive fun.

"We rented speakers and a whole arena at Sydney Olympic Park," recalls Raymond. "Maybe five per cent [of people] were competitive, but the other 95 per cent were just people in our clubs who are social, who just wanted to talk, meet friends and potentially make more friends from other universities."

Running may be the main activity that RunSoc members partake in, but the foundation of the club is built on a solid community of supportive people who just want to hang out. For those who are interested in joining RunSoc but feel a bit intimidated by the distances covered, don't be put off because the community will lift you, even as lactic acid is coursing through your legs mid-run.

"When I first joined RunSoc, I had never run in my life [except] maybe to catch a train. On that day, I ran six to eight kilometres," recalls Raymond. "I think a lot of people are surprised by how much they can do with the support of others."

The final big question Student News had was why is RunSoc so popular? What is it about running that brings people together in a club like this?

After taking a moment to ponder, Raymond says there are two main reasons why the club's members are so engaged. "One is to make friends and socialise. If that is one of your goals, you will benefit a lot from the society."

"The second reason is to improve your health. A lot of people want to get advice about running. They want to get into running because it's easy, right? You buy a pair of shoes, and that's about it. If you want to get into running and find it hard to do it by yourself or can't find a group of people to do it with, RunSoc is a great place. We will support you. We will help you. We will be there for you."

"RunSoc prides itself on our sense of community, having friends to encourage you to enjoy the view together. Anyone who joins come out of it feeling like, 'okay, I'm part of this community. I feel very encouraged. I feel very supported.'"

What members say about RunSoc

To get a fuller picture of what the RunSoc experience is like, we also asked some members to share some quick thoughts with Student News. Some names have been kept confidential for by request.

Leo (Pacer subcommittee member) — "I wanted to keep pursuing running after high school, so I signed up during O-Week."
Will (Head Pacer) — "I joined RunSoc because I wanted to start running more consistently, as well as wanting a way to meet people. Running alone can feel difficult, but the club showed me the group runs can be really social and supportive. I liked that you could come at any level and still feel included."
Anonymous #1 — "I wanted to get fit, explore Sydney and meet people!"
Anonymous #2 — "To meet new people and try to get better at running."
Anonymous #3 — "The close-knit community and wonderful people."
Leo — "How diverse the group is. RunSoc has members from all sorts of backgrounds, both domestic and international."
Will — "How much effort goes on behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly. The club isn’t just people turning up for runs. There’s a lot of planning, route checking, safety considerations, pacing, event organisation, and making sure new people feel comfortable."
Anonymous #1 — "It’s actually super chill, you don’t have to worry about speed or running ability, it will come in time, Just go and yap and meet some new amazing friends."
Anonymous #2 — "There are a ton of different events on every single week of the year - some weeks, there are events every day - sometimes even multiple a day!"
Leo — "Being part of this society really brings a fitness aspect into my uni life and keeps me active through the term."
Will — "It’s made uni feel much more balanced and a lot more memorable. Instead of uni just being classes and assignments, I’ve had this community to look forward to every week. It’s given me close friendships and a feeling that I found somewhere I belong."
Anonymous #1 — "Given me a strong support circle and wide community, and a great hobby/sport to grow alongside. Joining was genuinely the best decision of my uni career."
Anonymous #2 — "Very good as most of my closest friends and even roommates I met from RunSoc."
Anonymous #3 — "I have something to do every Friday social evening and I got to make a lot of friends."
Leo — "I've gained unexpected friendships, plus a boost in leadership and confidence. Honestly, just showing up to Friday socials reminds me why I'm glad I joined."
Will — "Definitely confidence and a stronger sense of community. I expected to get a bit fitter. I didn’t expect to gain so many friendships that have lasted for years. It has also helped my social confidence, because you constantly meet new members in a chill, low pressure environment."
Anonymous #1 — "Confidence to just go up and talk to new people."
Anonymous #2 — "The ability to run for more than 24 hours straight."
Leo — "It has to be the 'Anything but a Baton' event at the Inter-Uni track meet. Someone had brought a long tripod stick and used it as a baton!"
Will — "Some of the routes on the camps have been very adventurous and has led to some mostly controlled chaos. But that’s part of the fun and it somehow always works out."
Anonymous #1 — "Getting a group of 20 runners with three headtorches around a fallen tree next to a lake (only four people fell in! 😃)
Anonymous #2 — "Going to support friends doing backyard ultras. [Seeing] them at their worst after running 20+ hours straight with little rest, you realise how much the human body can actually do, [and] just seeing the community with RunSoc setting up their own gazebo. So many RunSoc people come to all events, and the vibe is IMMACULATE. They really support you like crazyyy, and you will never feel alone."