For many runners, the purpose behind their choice of sport traditionally boiled down to either burning calories or breaking PBs. Today, people’s motivations for taking up running have evolved well beyond the traditional confines of fitness. Run clubs are now ubiquitous in cities across the world, as people swap boozy nights out for more holistic forms of socialising. Marathons have become more akin to fashion shows and festivals, with the most high-profile races even drawing comparisons with the process of securing Glasto tickets. And hype-driven events such as The Speed Project – an unsanctioned, 340-mile ultra-marathon than stretches all the way from Los Angeles to Las Vegas – have gained cult followings online.

“I started noticing it when friends who previously would never have thought running was something they’d do, I guess because of the old cultural connotations, started taking part,” says House Captain founder and creative director Damola Oladapo, who has been a runner himself for over a decade. While the sport’s growth has been on a slow upwards trajectory for years, he suggests that the pandemic was the catalyst for its current cultural renaissance, as the world ground to a halt and people turned to solo exercise and the great outdoors. “The mental health conversation was the first domino, then the pandemic allowed it to become a practice that entrenched itself in many people’s lives.”

A big part of running’s growing prevalence is down to the sheer number of hyper-local run clubs who are creating a space for runners to seek out community and meet new people (some have even hailed them as the new dating apps). “Run clubs are a great way for super busy people, with little spare time, to develop a social foundation. Especially in cities,” says Oladapo. “It’s like value shopping, a little bit of running gives you a lot back. And a lot of people are enjoying the benefits of this model.”