Written by: Carlos Furnari
It started as a murmur, just a few people running around New York City at midnight. But slowly, the Run Crew movement has grown and become one of the loudest voices in the running global community. It's about fun more than it's about fast (although some of these guys and gals can run fast). And most of all, it's about community.
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Crew Love
“Still stoked by looking back on last weekend: 3 Crews organized one weekend… TOGETHER. We hosted around 42 crews with 529 runners in total from 22 countries. Bridge The Gap, Berlin was a lot bigger than we ever dreamed of.” — Henrik, Co-founder Run Pack Berlin.
"It's not about the running."
This is a line you will often hear thrown around amongst run crew guys. And yes, it seems a little confusing, or contradicting even. Because at the end of the day, you still have to run, right? But when you spend time with them you start to get it. You start to get that the running bit really is a means to a much bigger end.
It started the day before the race when run crews from across the globe came together under the Bridge The Gap movement. It was a chance to catch up with friends, old and new. A chance to share a few race day strategies and last-minute nerves. A chance to predict your finish time and see who else is aiming for the same.
By percentages, run crews may have made up only a relatively small number of the 40,000 running Berlin. But as a group, the Bridge The Gap Movement was the single biggest (and loudest) by far.
But even for those crew members not running, the Berlin Marathon is still a big day to be marked on the calendar.
Before you can cheer your lungs out there are signs to be made.
And then, come race day, it’s all about the “cheer zone”.
“After 36.5km the whole body hurts but in the cheering zone you forget everything!” — @berlinbagels
“Cheering runners at the Berlin Marathon is always a superlike! Can never get enough of hugging all you people.” — Ryan the Lion
“Sure, the cheering gives the fast guys an extra boost... but it gets everybody else to the finish line." – Heidi, NBRO run crew.
“It’s basically 41 kilometres of pain and 1 kilometre of madness. But that 1 kilometre totally makes the rest worth it.”
“You will never run alone.”
Although many PB's were captured, for a lot of run crew members that was merely a sweet bonus to what was an incredible Berlin weekend… one that just so happened to include 42.195KM of running.
Much deserved kudos to the Berlin Bridge the Gap host crews: Run Pack Berlin, Kraft Runners, and Berlin Braves. The crew love was most definitely felt. And thanks to the cheer zone… heard!
