Run at your own ‘sexy pace’: The women-only crew changing the rules
Run with Purpose (RWP), founded by Ryan Haynes, started as eight mates going for a jog in Coventry. Now it’s a social movement that’s reached London and is helping to tackle loneliness and make running more accessible by leaving no one behind.
For Ryan, RWP started with a need for connection rather than a desire to create a running club.
Returning to his hometown Coventry after a spell living in London, Ryan soon realised he didn’t have the social connections he craved to re-energise him.
“I was going out on long runs on my own, which I enjoyed, but thought surely there are people who want to meet other people in their 30s [to run] and go for a beer afterwards.
“There weren’t really a lot of clubs around, all the clubs were run fast, slim, skinny boys that I didn’t feel a part of.”
So, in 2024, Ryan gathered eight mates for a jog and a chat.
“The message was very much it is an anti-loneliness gang, who want to share and feel vulnerable and comfortable with those honest conversations,” he says.
In just over two years the Coventry crew has grown to about 80 runners meeting up each week.
Ryan has since returned to London and established an east-London base for RWP, with the weekly Monday-night 5K starting at Ninety One Brick Lane.
“It’s for people who don’t really consider themselves runners and I think that is the key to this group; we are a social club first that happen to run,” he says.
On the runs you’ll find Ryan weaving through the group, with a big speaker slung over his shoulder that’s pumping out runners’ requests and a camera in hand to grab content for RWP’s Instagram.
“London is a lonely place and I think people want to hang out and the run is the buy-in,” he adds.
The London crew also meet on a Saturday for a longer run, which is perfect for anyone training for the Big Half. RWP is set to have about 20 runners on the Start Line this autumn.
The crew’s tagline is ‘always loop, never alone’, because the focus of the runs is connection, not pace.
The runners who are at the front of the group will loop around to join the runners at the back and this is repeated throughout the run.
“Looping just allows people to carry on, not feel like they are at the front or the back or slow or fast, they just get to be part of the crew at all points,” Ryan explains.
For newcomers who might feel intimidated by traditional clubs, this approach removes many of the barriers to running.
“People think ‘I’m not fast enough’ or ‘I can’t run 5K’. I want to get as many of those people who don’t feel like they can to do it and be the person who says to the next person, ‘Yes, you can, I was in your position two months ago.’”
As the community grows, Ryan wants Run with Purpose to have a wider impact.
RWP has recently become a Community Interest Company and Ryan is exploring ways to work with younger people and help local causes.
That could mean partnering with charities and supporting community projects, as well as getting more younger people along to the RWP sessions.
“I realise we take a lot for the city, so it is important to me that we give back, whether in Coventry or London. Reaching out to organisations and helping people where we can would mean a lot to me,” Ryan says.
“I’m very much seeing what happens with it all, but I am pumped and grateful to be in the position I am.”
As a club founded on friendship rather than finish times, RWP isn’t trying to create the fastest runners.
Regardless of where their runners are at in their journey, they’ll never have to do it alone.
Interested in joining? There’s no membership fee – just turn up as you are.
Follow them on Instagram or join their Strava club to view their upcoming runs.
