One by one the people in their twenties and thirties drip in café Conrad, on the outskirts of Vondelpark in Amsterdam. They are all dressed in sportswear, from a black T-shirt with sports shorts to a drain with running accessories, complete with aerodynamic glasses. At first glance it seems one of the countless Amsterdam racing clubs. But when you go among the riders, this meeting soon turns out to run something completely different.
The inconvenience dominates on the terrace. The men stand with the men, the women with the women. Between the ‘conversation islands’, scanned, inspected and tins are exchanged. In one of the islands is the Italian lawyer Lorenzo Agati (25). “I’m nervous,” he laughs. “I wanted to meet someone in real life instead of Tinder. But who thinks about running dating?”
The evening was only successful when I have her telephone number
The approximately fifty runners participate in the Single’s Run, organized by the Amsterdam Sunday Run Club, where dozens of bachelors try to find love once a month, while they cover five kilometers. The concept was devised last summer by volunteer Emily Cooper and Renclub founder Sophie Nordenhed. Suddenly they saw posts everywhere on social media about how people tried to find their new flame at running clubs. “Then we decided to post some videos on Instagram,” says Cooper. “They were viewed hundreds of thousands of times. We had to respond to that.” The first, rainy Single’s Run attracted about seventy people, “a great success” according to Cooper.
After a short chat and a warm-up led by three volunteers, including Cooper, the group of mainly expats mainly starts moving. Soon the group starts to fan. It turns out to be the ideal conditions for the more assertive singles. For example, 35-year-old Martin soon walks next to the Ukrainian Natalia, who, despite the conventions of running (“No, this is not, haha”) has fiercely red.
Participants of the Single’s Run drink a drink in Café Conrad.
Photo Bram Petraeus
Low
The boom -long Dutch consultant – aside -combed blond hair and blue eyes – is hardly present online: “I have no social media and no dating apps,” he cheerfully proclaims. It is therefore a small miracle that he is running today. “It was my birthday last week and a friend thought it was high time that I once got a girlfriend, so she gave me this as a gift,” he says.
The birthday present seems to be bearing fruit. Between running through there are two activities to link potential partners together. In the first activity, where the men have to stand in a circle towards each other, the female participants can stand behind the person with whom they want to start a conversation. Martin attracts attention, he has hardly any time to have a conversation with everyone and after some laughter and giggling the time is to. “What a chaos, this is too much attention,” concludes the consultant.
You can see how someone laughs, what kind of gestures someone makes
After a second activity, in which the riders have to compete against each other in a sort of squat match, the Finnish Mariam (36)-Black outfit, blond her in a ponytail-tells the Romanian Andreea (23) why she participates in the Singles Run. “I have tried so many dating apps. It can work, but the quality of the men is absurdly low,” says the Finnish. She has previously dattled with Dutch men via Tinder, but those were all “typical Dutch men.” “Everything goes well for a while, app or call daily. And suddenly you are ghostthey don’t respond at all anymore. “
Andreea nods in agreement: “Sometimes after two weeks of radio silence they come back as if nothing happened. Terrible.” In any case, at these types of events you meet someone “in an authentic way,” she says. “You can see how someone laughs, what kind of gestures someone makes. On DatingApps you might swipe someone away while he can really be very nice in real life.”
The monthly Single’s Run through the Amsterdam Vondelpark. Afterwards there will be bubbling in Café Conrad.
Photo Bram Petraeus
Sporty
Mariam and Andreea have not registered as only the Single’s Run out of frustration about online dating. That applies to almost all runners. From polls of Statista and Generation Lab It appears that more and more young adults drop out from apps such as Tinder and Bumble. The apps are described as too expensive and too commercially. There is a growing need to find love again ‘in real life’.
For social contacts, also romantic, more and more young adults are therefore joining running clubs. By one recent report Van Ren-app Strava has risen by 59 percent and 20 percent has been on a date with 59 percent. Andrea is not surprised: “You know that the people who participate in it are fairly sporty. You don’t come across Couchpotato, that’s nice. And you have something in common.”
When the five kilometers is finished, the majority of the field of participants dives into the cafe. Lawyer Agati says he “runs more often.” There is therefore no drop of sweat on his forehead. Unfortunately he “did not find the true one today.”
Who found each other? Volunteer Cooper knows that a couple left together immediately after the course. And, spotted on a wooden table at the back of the cafe: Consultant Martin in an animated conversation with Natalia. “The evening is only successful when I have her telephone number,” says the Dutchman with a grin, “but I take it easy.” Natalia bounces back: “You will have to earn that first!”
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