All Hail The Crew

Increasingly, runners are taking to the streets and the trails in social groups. But it's not quite the club running of the past.

- By Becky Leighton

THEY SEEM THE ANTITHESIS OF TRADITIONAL RUNNING CLUBS. IMPOSTERS - REBELS, even - that the older generation glare at as they stride through the inner city, around the suburbs, and on the mountains. But running crews are officially a thing. And in South Africa, they're growing rapidly in popularity, as more and more runners find a home: with like-minded people and no formal restrictions to consider.

THE BEGINNING OF A SOCIAL MOVEMENT

The first group widely recognized as a running crew was formed by Mike Saes in New York, back in 2004.

Initially, it was a solo weekly run, born of the need to get to the other side of the city in a hurry. But Saes started inviting friends to run with him. That weekly run became an unofficial 'club' of runners, with no route and no agenda other than to run and to explore the inner city.

All they needed was a name. The formation of the Bridge Runners marked the start of a social movement that has given rise to urban running crews across the world.

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CREW AND A CLUB?

At the core of it, a running club and a running crew are quite similar: a group of people, getting together to run. But the two bring different flavours to the running-group mixing pot.