Turnout at the Social Run Club Wageningen just before the Christmas break. Photo SRC Wageningen Two master’s students manage the Social Run Club (SRC) Wageningen, an athletics club that was founded for recreational, low-threshold exercising. The club celebrates its first anniversary.
Initiators Giel Hagenbeek (Geo-Information Sciences & Forest and Nature Conservation) and Youri van Hasselt (Forest and Nature Conservation) have designed a Strava-Art Challenge to celebrate the SRC’s first anniversary. Hagenbeek: ‘Strava is an app that enables athletes to share their activities with others, in addition to logging data such as distance and time, the app also keeps a map marking the locations you have visited. The line logged on the map can be used to create an image. This is known as Strava Art. We have already made some collective art on two separate occasions: a small ghost during Halloween and Santa just before the Christmas break. We are now challenging everyone to make their own art.’
How was the idea for the run club conceived?
Van Hasselt: ‘We sometimes complained to one another that there is quite a threshold to start running. Athletics clubs often focus on performance, so if that is not your goal, you’re on your own. Running by yourself requires strong intrinsic motivation, especially during this season when it’s cold and dark. Going with others lowers the threshold.’
Hagenbeek: ‘We knew about run clubs through Instagram. Such clubs have made their way from other parts of the world to the larger Dutch cities. Strangers meet to run a predetermined distance at a manageable speed of 9 to 10 km/hr. There was no such club in Wageningen at that time.’
Are many people interested?
Van Hasselt: ‘We started out with an Instagram account. A WhatsApp group soon followed. Soon after, we planned our first run last March. That attracted five people: the two of us, two acquaintances and one stranger. It was fun from the start.’
Hagenbeek: ‘Our community has been growing ever since. People hear about the initiative through word of mouth, and new people join at every run. Our WhatsApp group now has one hundred members, and we have about 150 Instagram followers. We have an average of 12 runners at each event. Our run at the end of January drew the largest number so far with 19 participants.’
Hagenbeek: ‘It is actually really easy to set up, as we will run anyway. So it makes no difference whether it is just us or more people. When many join, it is great, but if there are few, we still have fun.’
Text continues below.
What is your target demographic?
Hagenbeek: ‘Because we use Instagram to communicate and friends, clubmates and housemates join, the average is rather young. We start and end our runs at De Bongerd, but the initiative is open to anyone, not just students or WUR staff.’
Van Hasselt: ‘We currently run six kilometres at about ten km/hr. Some runners may feel the distance is too short or the speed too slow. But for novice runners who are still building endurance, it is sufficiently intensive. I really enjoy seeing people make progress. Some of our runners who started out with six kilometres ran 16 kilometres in the Dam tot Dam race in September. Really awesome!’
Do you have any plans for the future?
Hagenbeek: ‘As far as I’m concerned, it is already a success. We aimed to get about ten people together every fortnight for a run. There are now more people. I envision small-scale events or run specials in the future. In our WhatsApp group, we encourage our members to launch ideas or invite others to join. There are even groups being formed for the Veluweloop, and some members join events such as the campus run.’
What if you are unable to maintain a conversation while running?
Van Hasselt: ‘A social run is about running and talking, but if you prefer to run in silence, that is also fine. Or if you are unable to talk because your endurance still needs some work, we still like to have you on board.’
Hagenbeek: ‘Moreover, you make new sports friends, as we usually have a drink in De Bongerd Sports Pub afterwards.’
