Online trends constantly come and go, and this year, running seems to be what’s in. While running used to take a backseat to pilates and lifting, it has now come to the forefront of attention. Its popularity has been attributed to the countless viral TikToks claiming that running clubs are becoming the new way to meet people. With this newfound attention, Strava—an activity-tracking app used to record and post runs, hikes, and other forms of activity—has skyrocketed in popularity as a social media platform and even a dating app.

Strava users can follow and connect with friends, deal out “kudos,” and comment on friends’ activity posts; in a sense, Strava is becoming the Instagram of athletic apps. Its growth is seen in the increasing number of users of the app, with 120 million users in 2023 and roughly two million joining each month. 

Strava’s growth has simultaneously added to the development of running clubs, encouraging users to join local groups, view routes, and more. Running clubs have taken off with more and more people in their twenties becoming inclined to join. Although it is typically used by a younger demographic, Strava and running groups encourage people of all skill levels and experience to take part in keeping an active lifestyle. 

The app acts as a way to connect with new people, and allows us to break away from our devices and interact in person, spurring organic meet-cutes. For example, running groups act as mediators in forming new relationships, using Strava athletes to meet up to run together and often attend a post-run social. Some running clubs host events, where single runners wear one colour shirt and runners in relationships  wear another, explicitly making the club a matchmaking space. 

Countless TikToks poke fun at this aspect of running clubs with some women joking that dating apps have become so bleak that they need to “start acting clueless at run club” to meet partners. Imagine post-running club drinks, you see someone cute from across the room, you walk over and dazzle them with a fool-proof opener: “What’s your Strava?” From there, you give them a couple of kudos’ on their Strava activity posts and the love story of a century is born.

But now the question arises: Are Strava and running clubs really an effective way to meet people and potential partners? Will Strava actually encourage face-to-face interactions and decrease the use of online dating apps in a world where social media is so prevalent in our daily lives? Or will we remain stuck behind a screen, comparing paces and giving kudos to our crushes?

There are still criticisms of having apps such as Strava as the facilitators of new relationships. It is unclear how these kinds of apps could affect our behaviours online; like Instagram, it could turn into another place where people curate their posts rather than sharing organic moments from their lives. The consequences of using social media to connect with others still leave us in harm’s way by cultivating unhealthy online habits and, in turn, creating the possibility of further negatively affecting one’s mental health.

However, unlike other forms of social media and dating apps, Strava presents a solution—encouraging users to get outside. Strava encourages us to stay active and meet people in person, facilitating face-to-face interactions, and potentially creating new relationships. So lace on your running shoes, prep your pick-up lines, put those headphones in, and start up your Strava app—it is the time to join a running club!