FitRxCoolDOWN
FIT TRENDS
FIT
FITTRENDS
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BY LISA STEUER
RUN
City Running Tours
2 FIT NES S R X JUNE
2014
City Running Tours— which has since
expanded to other cities including
Portland, San Francisco, Washington,
D.C. and more— offers two types of
running tours. There are customized
runs, where clients choose the
distance (from four to 26 miles) and
the sites they are interested in seeing.
There are also three- to six-mile
group/social running tours that are led
at a casual/conversational pace; all
running abilities are encouraged to
join. In addition, City Running Tours
even offers “beer runs,” one of the
more popular tours, in which the group
connects at a local brewery or bar.
“We create a tour based on the
location, trying to include as much of a
city’s ‘beer’ history. Then at the
completion of the running tour we buy
the participants a beer,” said Michael.
The idea of sightrunning is very
simple, Michael added. It is about
offering runners an opportunity to
experience a city while doing
something they love to do. “Runners
are always seeking out ways to go for a
run. This is the reason they find us,”
said Michael. “Then once they do, it is
about experiencing a city with
someone who runs in that city. It is
very exciting. The reward for our
clients is continuing their routine and
feeling like themselves. The reward for
us is getting to make a connection
with a like-minded individual and
sharing the passion we have for our
city.”
Although there were a few active
running tour companies before the
inception of City Running Tours,
sightunning is still a new concept that
has started to really take off in the last
three to four years, said Michael. One
reason for that is because this year,
tour operators have started to
organize under the umbrella
organization Go! Running Tours.
Coming Together
tours included in business
conferences and meetings.
“Now networking and
relationship building are done in
different and more active settings
such as running,” she said. “Also,
marathon travels are becoming
increasingly popular. More and
more people do holidays where
they include a marathon or other
race. These keen runners often
would like to do a bit of
sightseeing in connection with
their race, so they book a
sightrunning tour, or in some
places a sightrunning tour is now
part of the official travel package.”
The Future of
Running Tours
Cool Runs
group offers unique runs like a
PHOTOS BY GO! RUNNING TOURS
In January 2014, Lena Andersson of
Running Copenhagen officially
launched Go! Running Tours, with
Robin Florax, owner of Running Tours
Barcelona. Go! Running Tours is a
community of sightrunning providers
worldwide that also aims to increase
awareness of sightunning. By logging
onto the organization’s website, users
can find affiliated running tour
companies in cities around the world.
“The point of sightrunning is to
www.fitnessrxwomen.com
experience a city in a healthy and
active fashion,” said Lena
Andersson, “and this means also
taking the time to see the city’s
sights, listen to local insights and
perhaps chat with the runner next
to you.”
Sightrunning tours are also very
popular with women, Lena added.
“Here in Copenhagen for example,
we have a lot of female guests
during the winter months, when it
is dark until late morning and gets
dark again in late afternoon. Here,
a lot of women book a tour, as they
are otherwise not comfortable
running in an unknown city on
their own in the dark.”
Sightrunning providers are
being established in new locations
all the time, and at least three to
four times a month, individuals
request to set up a sightrunning
business in their home city, said
Lena. Plus, it’s even becoming
more common to see running
With the growing popularity of
sightrunning, Go! Running Tours
hopes to create partnerships with
hotel chains, travel companies,
airlines and more. “There are
several forms these partnerships
can take, ranging from them
being a pure re-seller to
including running tours in a
Planning a vacation this summer?
travel package or in their loyalty
Here are just a few interesting
schemes,” said Lena.
running tours you can try around
Visit www.gorunningtours.
the U.S.:
com and www.cityrunningtours.
• Rockin’ Running Tours:
com for more information and
Memphis, TN. Three- to six-mile
to find running tours by city. n
tours are offered. Visit www.
rockinrunningtours.com.
• Off ‘N Running Tours of
Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. This
›
New York City chiropractor Michael
Gazaleh began his sightrunning
company, City Running Tours, in 2005.
At the time, his chiropractic office was
in a personal training gym. One day, a
man from Australia contacted the gym
looking for a personal trainer to take
him on a run during his upcoming visit
to New York City, since he was
unfamiliar with the city and preferred
not to use a treadmill.
“It worked out that none of the
trainers at the gym were running at
the level he was looking for, so they
asked me to do it and not thinking too
much into it, I agreed,” said Michael,
which is when he found out it was the
tourist’s first trip to New York and that
he wanted to see some sights. “I took
him on a route that I normally ran on
my own and would point things out as
we went, but really he and I had a
great conversation. I learned a lot
about him and he learned a lot about
me, and it was such a rewarding and
familiar experience that this concept
of a running tour made total sense. I
started the business that week.”
include stops at specific sights much like a typical tour.
If you’re traveling to a major city for vacation this summer—
whether it’s around the U.S. or around the world— it’s likely that
you’ll find a sightrunning tour there. In fact, a simple Google
search for “sightrunning” turns up running tour companies and
opportunities in New York, Chicago, Berlin, Madrid, Vienna,
Prague and more. Here’s a look at this growing trend with some
of the sightrunning guides who are behind it all.
›
For many people, exercise is one of the last things on the
mind during a vacation. But what if you could combine a cardio
workout with sightseeing while visiting a new city? Sightrunning
is a growing fit and travel trend that allows you to do just that.
In cities around the world, sightrunning is taking hold as a preferred method of sightseeing for runners and non-runners
alike. Put simply, sightrunning tours are led by guides who show
participants the city’s sights while on a run, and most runs
PHOTOS BY CITY RUNNING TOURS
›
RUNNING TOURS ARE BECOMING A WORLDWIDE TREND
›
PHOTO BY GO! RUNNING TOURS
SIGHTSEEING ON THE
Venice Arts Running Tour, a
Running for the Hollywood Hills
tour (which includes landmarks like
the “Hollywood” sign), a Running
from the Paparazzi tour, and more.
For more information, visit www.
offnrunningtours.com.
• RunBoston: Boston, MA.
Tours can be personalized, and
historical sites are typically
included.
Visit www.runboston.org.
• Atlanta Running Tours.
Choose from a few different tour
options, and tours even include
digital photos taken throughout the
tour that are emailed to you after.
Visit atlantarunningtours.com.
www.fitnessrxwomen.com
No Tour Available?
If you’re running without a
tour in an unfamiliar place, you
can log onto http://www.usatf.
org/routes/map/, which allows
users to easily search routes
mapped by others based on
location, terrain and/or run
length.
In addition, here are some of
the best apps to help you map
routes and track your run:
• RunKeeper
• Nike+ Running
• Edomondo
• MayMyRun
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