Dear Nike Running,
Yesterday, in his pre-run chat, Covent Garden lead pacer Jamie gave us the news that our Wednesday night Home Run from the Covent Garden store is being moved to Nike Town as part of the evolution of Nike Run Clubs. He said that this is one of many changes aimed at improving our running and our experience of running with NRCs.
This came as a shock to the 80+ of us who’d turned up to run. Jamie assured us that things would become clearer over the next few days and weeks as official announcements are made and the new programme is unveiled.
Be that as it may, the decision to take the main weekly run away from London’s dedicated running store seems odd. And given that Covent Garden’s routes are, for the most part road and traffic free, and take in some of the best views in one of the greatest capital cities in the world, the idea that our running experience will be improved by losing them seems to defy logic. From post-run conversations last night, and having read comments on the Covent Garden Facebook page this morning, the general feeling is one of confusion. None of us see how moving the run can be a good thing for us, the runners it’s meant to benefit, and the more we talk about it the more it feels like key factors haven’t been taken into account and it’s these that I’d like to address with this letter.
While there are no doubt many factors which were taken into account when deciding to move the Wednesday night Home Run from CG to NTL, these are the ones which we think were overlooked.
Routes:
CG runs two routes: East along the river to Tower Bridge, and West down to Battersea Power Station. Between these two routes we pass almost every iconic London landmark: the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Tate Modern, HMS Belfast, The Shard, City Hall, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, St Paul’s, the Millennium Bridge, the Embankment, Cleopatra’s Needle, MI6, Battersea Power Station, MI5, Somerset House, The Savoy. Despite being held in Victoria Park in East London, the t-shirt design for the 2015 Nike Women’s 10K featured iconic London landmarks, Tower Bridge and Battersea Power Station, which are our turning points for our East and West runs respectively. There’s an irony in the fact that we are losing the runs which pass the very landmarks which the Nike Women’s 10K felt best represented London.
NTL run the Outer Circle of Regent’s Park. Importantly they are not permitted to run inside the park itself. So instead of running in the park, they run around it.
Safety:
To get Regent’s Park, NTL’s runners have to cross numerous busy roads. The run around the park is along the narrow pavements of the Outer Circle, which are hazardously uneven and broken by tree roots. The Outer Circle is notorious for its lack of street lighting, which means running in near total darkness in autumn and winter. Nike Town is located in one of the most traffic clogged parts of central London and the Outer Circle is a busy road, meaning that runners spend the bulk of their run in close proximity to traffic and running in dirty air.
By comparison CG’s routes along the river are as traffic and pollution free as it’s probably possible to get in London. There are only two main roads to cross, both of which have crossings, and for bulk of the East run runners are running on the river bank so away from traffic and fumes.
Last winter several runners who ran regularly with both NTL and CG mentioned privately that they didn’t think the NTL run should happen at all in the winter months, now we’re effectively doubling the size of it.
Community:
You only have to look at the Covent Garden Nike+ page on Facebook to see that there is a thriving, engaged community that’s grown up around the CG River Runners. Part of that is to do with the routes, part of it is the convenience of the store’s location. The bigger part of it is the people. For some reason - perhaps because it is smaller store and seems more personal - CG has attracted a particular type of runner, one who is looking as much for community and to make new friends as they are to up their distance or improve their speed. Many of them have tried NTL and said that for all the reasons the like CG they dislike NTL and that for those reasons they will not run there. Speed, endurance, brand awareness are all things that are possible to engineer, but community either happens or it doesn’t and for whatever reason, at CG it has flourished with post-run drinks now as key the runs themselves. Unfortunately, you can’t just relocate or recreate that. Ending the Wednesday Home run from CG will, sadly, bring that to an end.
And while branding and brand awareness is your concern not ours, it is worth pointing out that many in our community feel strongly about the decision to end the CG Wednesday run and that at least 80 previously committed Nike customers slightly fell out of love with the brand last night. It’s a two way relationship. The success of Nike+ and the NRCs is not down to posters and branding, it’s down to the runners who turn up, who post their post-run photos to Facebook, instagram and twitter, who extoll the virtues of the run clubs and bring their friends along. We are all unofficial but passionate Nike+ ambassadors, or we were until last night.
I’m sure it’s not the intention of Nike or Nike Running to upset the very people that the NRCs are there to help, support and encourage. I’m also sure that the global restructure and relaunch of NRCs is being done with the best of intentions and will bring many good things - ‘the best in class coaches, pacers and services to inspire and motivate you to achieve your first, funnest or fastest miles.’
But some of us are having trouble understanding how losing the most inspiring and fun routes in London is going to be an improvement. So on behalf of all CG runners I would like to ask for Nike Running to address the points raised in this letter. Or better still I’d ask them to come run with us. I’d ask you to join us for an amazing 10K run along the Thames, to run while taking in the sights of one of the greatest cities in the world and enjoying the company of some of the best people you could ever hope to run with, and maybe then you’d see that to truly evolve into everything you want the London NRCs to be, there needs to be a run from the Nike Store Covent Garden.
Thanks for reading.
Dan
