Robotproof brings running culture to life for Like the Wind as the magazine brought its distinctive take on running culture off the page and into the real world for its first-ever RUN CULTURE: LIVE.
The festival was designed around a deliberately tactile, human-first approach – turning the craft, storytelling and community found in the magazine into something people could physically explore, make, watch, discuss and participate in. The event is already set to repeat next year.
Rather than creating a traditional running expo built around products and performance, Robotproof designed the experience around the culture that exists around the act of running itself. Over two days, Olympic athletes and some of the sport’s highest-achieving figures shared the same space as artists, filmmakers, community leaders, charities and everyday runners.
The programme brought together a huge range of voices from across running, including Olympic legend Linford Christie, US Olympic steeplechaser Colleen Quigley, professional ultrarunner, human rights lawyer and charity founder Stephanie Case, author Adharanand
Finn and Run Dem Crew founder Charlie Dark. Together, they gave audiences perspectives ranging from elite performance and endurance to creativity, community and the role running can play in people’s lives.
But much of RUN CULTURE: LIVE was deliberately about doing rather than watching. Robotproof worked with participating brands to create hands-on experiences that allowed visitors to encounter them in unexpected ways. Salomon invited runners to make bags from recycled materials, while repair and upcycling activities encouraged people to give damaged running kit another life rather than throw it away.
Elsewhere, art and embroidery workshops brought making and creativity into the space, while Under Armour’s blind treadmill challenge turned something as familiar as running on a treadmill into a playful physical experience. Together, the activations reflected Robotproof’s belief that the most powerful experiences are those people can touch, make, try and participate in for themselves.
The flow of the festival was designed to allow visitors to move naturally between long-form storytelling, film, conversation, physical experiences and creative workshops. Instead of separating elite sport, brands, creativity and community into different worlds, the festival deliberately put them alongside one another – reflecting the way contemporary running culture actually exists.
Two UK film premieres also anchored the weekend, including a new film following Lucy Bartholomew’s Moroccan running adventure and an unreleased documentary on Lazarus Lake, while charities working within and around the running community brought another dimension to the event and the stories being told.
Feedback across the weekend reflected that the event felt culturally relevant to the community Like the Wind has spent more than a decade documenting. For the magazine, that was particularly important. Its readers don’t simply see running as a sport or form of exercise, but as something intertwined with culture, creativity, identity and community.
Tom Ironside, Robotproof CEO, said: “We talk a lot at Robotproof about being human-first, and this was a chance to put that into practice. Running is obviously physical, but the culture around it is incredibly human too – it’s about stories, communities, rituals, creativity and shared experiences. So we wanted people to do more than walk around looking at things. They could make something, repair something, try something, hear from extraordinary people and meet others who share the same obsession.
“The best feedback was that it felt authentic to running culture in London. That was always the ambition – not to parachute an event into the running community, but to create something that genuinely belonged within it.”
Julie Freeman, Operations Director and co-founder at Like the Wind, said: “We’ve spent more than a decade telling stories about running on the page, so seeing that world become physical for the first time was incredibly special. What made the weekend work was the mix: you could hear from Olympians and world-class athletes, discover incredible charities, watch films, make and repair things, meet brands and simply spend time with other people who love running.
“We wanted it to feel like Like the Wind brought to life, and the response has made us even more excited about what this could become. We’re already thinking about next year.”