October 21, 2026

Make Friends After 40 in Portsmouth by Lacing Up for a New Sport

Portsmouth gained people in their forties faster than the wider region over four years, so a beginners running group is a good bet for finding friends your age.

Three Portsmouth women on the road, laughing so hard they can barely sit still

26,600+

Portsmouth residents are aged 40 to 49 (ONS, mid-2025)

growth in Portsmouth’s 40 to 49 age group from mid-2021 to mid-2025, against 5% for the South East (ONS)

13%

of Portsmouth homes are unmarried partners sharing a household, against 11% regionally (Census 2021, ONS)

Portsmouth runs on weeknights

Trying a sport for the first time in your 40s gets you into Portsmouth’s social life faster than almost anything else. Portsmouth Joggers Club meets at 6.50pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1000 Lakeside in North Harbour, and new runners can try it for a couple of weeks before joining. Great Salterns parkrun is a smaller Saturday 5K. Gofrendly helps Portsmouth women find a training partner nearby.

Portsmouth questions about getting active

Portsmouth night out: two friends under street lights, one pulling a funny pose

Can a complete beginner in her mid-40s join a Portsmouth running club?

Portsmouth Joggers Club meets on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6.50pm in the atrium at 1000 Lakeside, North Harbour. You turn up, speak to a group leader and can run with them for a couple of weeks before deciding to join, so Portsmouth beginners can try it first.

How many parkruns does Portsmouth have?

Portsmouth has three: Southsea parkrun on the seafront, Great Salterns parkrun at Great Salterns Recreation Ground, and Portsmouth Lakeside parkrun at North Harbour. All start on Saturday mornings at 9am. Great Salterns is smaller, which makes it easier to recognise people in Portsmouth from one week to the next.

How do I find a running partner in Portsmouth?

Gofrendly is a women-only friendship app showing which Portsmouth women live close by, so you can message a runner at a similar pace and agree a regular route. Meeting at the same parkrun each Saturday gives a new friendship a fixed time and place.

Is there an adult choir in Portsmouth looking for singers?

Portsmouth Baroque Choir rehearses at Buckland Community Centre every Monday evening from 7.30 to 9.30 in term time, and it has been inviting new singers to audition, especially altos and basses. Singing in Portsmouth gives you the same faces every week, much like a running club does.

Portsmouth friendships built on training

Portsmouth added about 8% more residents aged 40 to 49 between 2021 and 2025, a quicker rise than the South East saw, so a beginners session may well include people your age. A new sport suits that age well: you are not competing with your 25-year-old self, you are starting from scratch alongside other beginners, and the club does the organising. To make friends after 40 in a city this compact, a weekly session with a club is hard to beat.

Training alone can get lonely, and a group fixes that. Running clubs pair you with people at your pace, parkrun gives you a regular Saturday, and the shared effort makes small talk easy, whether you are 41 or 49. If running is not for you, the council’s Learning Place on Derby Road and Together in the Hive have other ways in, from short courses to volunteering for the city’s centenary. Where to start:

Portsmouth Joggers Club, meeting twice a week at 1000 Lakeside, North Harbour.

Great Salterns parkrun at Great Salterns Recreation Ground on Saturdays.

Portsmouth Baroque Choir, rehearsing on Mondays at Buckland Community Centre.

The Learning Place on Derby Road in North End, the council’s adult learning base.

Together in the Hive, the city’s volunteer centre and partnership.

LOCAL TIP

Book the first session for this week, not next month.

How to

Ways to meet new training friends in Portsmouth

Run with Portsmouth Joggers Club on a Tuesday and a Thursday for two weeks before joining.

Walk or jog Great Salterns parkrun, then volunteer as a marshal one Saturday.

Find a Portsmouth woman at your pace on Gofrendly and train together each week.

Ask Together in the Hive about a regular volunteering role for the city’s centenary year.

Real friendship, in stories and statistics

Debbie and Carita’s Real Friendship Story: A Genuine Connection 560 Miles From Home

Debbie had just moved 560 miles from home when she re-downloaded Gofrendly hoping to meet new people. Here’s how she found Carita – and a friendship that quickly became essential.

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UK Friendship Statistics: Clear Numbers Behind the Loneliness Epidemic

Real UK friendship statistics on loneliness — and why so many women are quietly finding this harder than they expected.

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Portsmouth page credits: our writing team

Our editors and Gofrendly founders Claudia Gård and Ulrika Lilja wrote this Portsmouth page for women taking up a sport in their forties, with the clubs and Saturday runs where training partners become friends.