diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index bb76706f9a4..e10101edc78 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -9,14 +9,11 @@ env:
     # SPREAD_LINODE_KEY
     - secure: "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"
 
-  matrix:
-    - RUN=static
-    - RUN=unit
-    - RUN=spread
-
 install:
   - sudo apt-get update -qq
   - sudo apt-get install -qq squashfs-tools xdelta3
   - sudo apt-get install -qq gnupg1 || sudo apt-get install -qq gnupg
 
-script: ./run-checks --$RUN
+script:
+    - ./run-checks --static
+    - ./run-checks --spread
diff --git a/spread.yaml b/spread.yaml
index 5c6b90c73bc..556d320899d 100644
--- a/spread.yaml
+++ b/spread.yaml
@@ -299,25 +299,18 @@ suites:
             $TESTSLIB/reset.sh
 
     tests/unit/:
-        summary: Suite to run non-go unit tests and go unit tests for other runtimes
+        summary: Suite to run unit tests (non-go and different go runtimes)
+        systems: [-ubuntu-core-16-*]
         prepare: |
             . $TESTSLIB/prepare.sh
-            if [[ "$SPREAD_SYSTEM" == ubuntu-core-16-* ]]; then
-                prepare_all_snap
-            else
-                prepare_classic
-            fi
+            prepare_classic
         prepare-each: |
             $TESTSLIB/reset.sh --reuse-core
             . $TESTSLIB/prepare.sh
-            if [[ "$SPREAD_SYSTEM" != ubuntu-core-16-* ]]; then
-                prepare_each_classic
-            fi
+            prepare_each_classic
         restore: |
             $TESTSLIB/reset.sh --store
-            if [[ "$SPREAD_SYSTEM" != ubuntu-core-16-* ]]; then
-                apt-get purge -y snapd snap-confine ubuntu-core-launcher
-            fi
+            apt-get purge -y snapd snap-confine ubuntu-core-launcher
 
     tests/nightly/:
         summary: Suite for nightly, expensive, tests
diff --git a/tests/unit/c-unit-tests/task.yaml b/tests/unit/c-unit-tests/task.yaml
index 38cd19f68f4..06a3172754c 100644
--- a/tests/unit/c-unit-tests/task.yaml
+++ b/tests/unit/c-unit-tests/task.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 summary: Run the test suite for C code
-systems: [-ubuntu-core-16-*]
 environment:
     EXTRA_PKGS: autoconf automake autotools-dev indent libapparmor-dev libglib2.0-dev libseccomp-dev libudev-dev pkg-config python3-docutils udev
 prepare: |
diff --git a/tests/unit/gccgo/task.yaml b/tests/unit/gccgo/task.yaml
index 05e3a14e8b9..3445bcf6524 100644
--- a/tests/unit/gccgo/task.yaml
+++ b/tests/unit/gccgo/task.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 summary: Check that snapd builds with gccgo
-systems: [-ubuntu-core-16-*, -ubuntu-14.04-64]
+systems: [-ubuntu-14.04-64]
 prepare: |
     echo Installing gccgo-6 and pretending it is the default go
     apt install -y gccgo-6
diff --git a/tests/unit/go/task.yaml b/tests/unit/go/task.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fec7d0176c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/go/task.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+summary: Run project unit tests
+
+systems: [ubuntu-16.04-64]
+
+restore: |
+    rm -rf /tmp/unit-tests
+
+execute: |
+    mkdir -p /tmp/unit-tests/src/github.com/snapcore
+    cp -ar $PROJECT_PATH /tmp/unit-tests/src/github.com/snapcore
+    chown -R test:12345 /tmp/unit-tests
+    su -l -c "cd /tmp/unit-tests/src/github.com/snapcore/snapd && GOPATH=/tmp/unit-tests ./run-checks --unit" test