At this singles run club, about 1, New Yorkers search every week for an antidote to the ills of Tinder and Hinge. Attendees said they're so over dating apps, and they're willing to sweat for an alternative. But runners at the Lunge Run Club, which has ballooned since its creation in May, say the now-massive group can be rife with some of the same drama: people ghost each other, lie about their relationship statuses, and have to watch those they dated last week run right past them the next.
Just a few months ago, the club was made of a couple dozen people mostly focused on working out. A few viral videos later, romance-deprived New Yorkers started flocking in droves. I like running, I like working out, so why not?
With groups now numbering hundreds of runners per session, some participants trying to use in-person interest-based activities to find that meaningful connection said the task can be as hard as swiping. A summer marked by the boom in singles run clubs is reaching its denouement as cuffing season, when singles are looking to pair up for the winter, quickly approaches.
NBC News pounded the pavement and spoke to over a dozen attendees β some said they were obsessed with the concept, but others said months of running after love had not yielded much more than a couple of phone numbers. Since the beginning of summer, New York City run clubs like Lunge have become the latest playground of lifestyle influencers on TikTok.
The West Side Highway, a popular running destination, is now a vast pool for young urban professionals seeking hot, athletic partners. Lunge has taken advantage of a city hungry for in-real-life encounters by creating a running group specifically oriented toward dating. The turnout is often so big that Lunge has to plan for a spillover bar next door. Run clubs have a long history, and runners have always tended to date each other, a relationship expert said.
