In the past few years there has been an explosion in the numbers of students taking up running at the University. A running culture has undoubtedly developed, with many friends constantly uploading their latest escapades and timings on their Strava profile. In order to better understand this cultural shift, I spoke to runners Luke and James to understand their own unique running journeys, and how they might be a good representation of the different kinds of people who have been drawn to running in recent years at Cambridge.

Before coming to university Luke did occasionally run at school, but in his own words, “never took it too seriously”. Upon his arrival at Cambridge a few years ago, though, his attitude changed as he started doing the Eddington parkrun every week. Over his time at the University, his enjoyment for running flourished to the extent that, by his third year, he was a founding member of Girton College Running Club. Moreover, his parkruns had inspired him to move on to far bigger things – completing an iron man triathlon in Lisbon in his last year. Luke remarked to me how the Girton College Running Club gave him a training plan, and recommended specific trainers and a diet.

Luke’s story makes the impact of the growth of the University’s running culture clear – previously inexperienced runners embarking upon iron man triathlons after being inspired and motivated by their time in Cambridge.

“Previously inexperienced runners embarking upon iron man triathlons”

The breadth of this cultural shift is also well-illustrated by the experiences of James. James, to be clear, did not run an iron man triathlon. However, he did complete the Cambridge half marathon, a race which is perhaps slightly more representative of the student community as a whole. After losing a bet in The Maypole, James signed himself up to the Cambridge half marathon in March 2024. Naturally, he initially completely forgot about the whole thing and carried on with his day-to-day business, although after some cajoling he did go out on a couple of runs and “realised [he] was unfit”. James promptly stopped running until two months before the event. After that point though, he ran everyday to ensure that, by raceday, he was in with a chance of completing the run.

“F***ing awful”’ and “every part of me hurt” were two of James’ particularly insightful comments about the raceday experience. Nevertheless, James had stepped up to the plate and finished the half-marathon, despite certain challenges. Following his half-marathon, James had initially planned to keep up with his running. After just 2.5 kilometres of his first post half marathon run, however, he lit up a cigarette and walked home.

Running at Cambridge, then, clearly has many sides. Yet the key is that running has become generally prolific across the University, whatever peoples’ backgrounds, motivations or ability. There is a definite trend of more and more students taking up running – one which is unlikely to slow down as college and society running clubs spring up across Cambridge. Over the past six months, I’ve even put on the running shoes myself.