As the warm weather returns to Toronto, parks and waterfronts fill with joggers, who run not just for fitness, but for community and connection.
Across the city, culturally-rooted running clubs are booming, offering different communities a welcoming space to move, meet, and be seen.
Between the Asian Toronto Run Club, the Arab Run Club, the Black Runners of the GTA, and the Ultra Black Run Club these collectives are carving out space where community and culture intersect with fitness.
What started with a few friends meeting casually for weekend runs has grown into a movement.
IT’S BIGGER THAN RUNNING
Founded by twin brothers Vince and Alex Huynh, the Asian Run Club began with a mission: creating a space for Asian people to feel seen in fitness.
“We felt that there was a lack of Asian representation, especially in the running community, and we wanted to really embrace the culture. We want Asians to be heard, seen, and especially in sports,” Vince told Now Toronto.
What started with 20 runners has grown into over 100 members who meet every Saturday at Canoe Landing Park and aim to create an inclusive space centred on Asian identity, but open to all.
“We understand the part where a lot of people might feel like they have to be Asian to join. But, we always welcome everybody that’s not Asian as part of the club, and we love that, you know, they like to embrace that culture,” Vince explained.
Beyond the weekly runs, the club pushes its members to grow, welcoming everyone, from five-kilometres first-timers to full-marathon runners.
“We want to be able to push your limits. We’ve seen people that weren’t able to even do a five-kilometres [run, and] now, they’ve signed up for full marathons,” Alex said.
The club also organizes events beyond running, hosting social gatherings that foster deeper connections within the community.
“We host a lot of social events for our members, and that is something we truly want to build in the city, because I feel like in terms of…not only East Asian, but South Asian [members], they lack, in terms of community,” Vince said. “It’s bigger than running. It’s a whole community.”
The club recently received a Community Leaders Award from the Fort York and Spadina MPP, Chris Glover, showing that their efforts don’t go unnoticed.
PEOPLE STAY FOR THE SAKE OF COMMUNITY
For the founders of Arab Run Club—Tamer Shaheen, Eldin Fahmy, and Nur Tawfeeq—the motivation was to create a space for shared cultural experiences and give back to communities back home.
“Run clubs are popping off over the last couple of years and those clubs were great, but they were predominantly of the same background. I would find us, Arabs, we have cultural traditions that are a little different,” Shaheen explained.
The club began in August 2024 with just nine friends. Within months, thanks to social media, it ballooned to over 150 runners per session. Now, the club has chapters in cities like LA, Vancouver, Ottawa, Houston, Tampa and Paris.
“Every month, we’re adding a new chapter, and it’s cool because it’s people coming to us about wanting to start a chapter. They see another city, and they’re just super inspired and want to be a part of the same movement,” Fahmy explained.
The runs are often followed by coffee shop meetups or social events like barbecues or bonfires.
“We like to do events outside as well, just because we’ve seen how running did bring us together, but people ended up staying for the sake of community, and we kind of expanded with that to create those events that foster that community and maintain it,” Tawfeeq said.
But the club doesn’t just build friendships, it also mobilizes support. Between social events and fundraisers, they’ve accumulated over $30,000 for humanitarian causes abroad.
“We like to think that we’re the fortunate ones that our parents, our grandparents, moved here,” Shaheen said. “So a lot of times when we host these runs, or sometimes we host social events, we raise money that we donate to our brothers and sisters back home.”
The team also has dream guests they’d love to collaborate with.
“We’re thinking [Palestinian singer] Saint Levant joining our rub club, bringing that hype a little bit. I think that’d be awesome. We’ve also had local support from MPP’s who are Middle Easterners or have some connection to the Arab community, come and support,” Tawfeeq said.
TO FEEL SAFE AND INCLUDED
Melanie M. launched Black Runners of the GTA during the pandemic, after Ahmaud Arbery, who was murdered during a racially motivated hate crime while jogging, sparked conversations around racism and running safety.
“I started a virtual platform because it was COVID at the time, and really did more representation and positive image of what it means to be a runner, and really opened up the conversation,” Melanie said.
“From there, I did a virtual run community as well, because it was during COVID. During that time, I kept that trend also, because not everyone has access to a run club. For myself, I know I have three young girls, it’s very hard to get to a [running] club at a very specific time.”
The platform evolved from storytelling, sharing the experiences of diverse runners, to real-life community building.
Melanie partnered with Canada Running Series to launch the Scarborough 5K, which takes place this May 31 with over 400 participants.
“We made the race very inclusive in the fact that it has patties, it has samosas, it plays Soca music. It is really a part of the culture and the community,” Melanie noted.
The goal of Black Runners of the GTA is to create safe, inclusive spaces that reflect the diversity of Toronto—especially in Scarborough, where access has historically lagged compared to downtown.
Melanie said her events are inclusive by design and that running clubs are extremely important for the community.
“I think it’s very important to have them in order to create safe spaces for people to feel safe and included into the running space and to continue running with their story being held and to be actually seen in the running space to continue going.”
IT’S A SPACE CREATED BY US
Founded just one year ago, the Ultra Black Run Club has quickly grown into a full wellness society centered on three pillars: fitness, wellness, and community.
“Ultra Black really allows people to not only be able to meet each other and be comfortable in spaces like that, with running being a pretty intimidating sport. It just allows us to build a community while, you know, improving our physical fitness, improving our health. So, I think it’s really important to be able to break those barriers by using community,” said one of the club’s committee leads.
While the space centers Black runners, allies are welcome, and upcoming events reflect that inclusive spirit.
“We’re hosting our one-year anniversary block party on May 20 at Princess Gates, with vendors, a mobility session, and of course, our signature community run,” they added.
