Tech Runner

Bored with your long weekend daytime runs? Looking for a bit of excitement for your exercise regime? Bit of a raver? Then a new series of races from Nike could be right up your street.

Called We Own the Night, Nike’s new 10K series for women will get underway this month in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, and Paris, with the race kicking off as late as 10pm in some cities and always ending in a party. The event is organized via Facebook and the Nike+ running app, and includes a six-week training plan and “Train to Run” workout sessions.

Featuring an array of glow sticks, pulsing music and smoke machines, these races should definitely appeal to those runners sick of ordinary daytime races.

Time to get training

WOtN is a great example of one of the newest trends in running – night-time party-running — 5K or 10K events organized past sunset and often featuring installations, smoke machines, and pulsing music. While participants shouldn’t expect festival-like proportions, participants swear by the natural high, good times, and alternative to Sunday morning races.

Also embracing the race-as-rave theme is Electric Run, a series of night-time 5K and 10K runs complete with glow sticks, lasers, LED lights, and music. Based in the US, the runs have attracted celebrities including Seth Rogen and Carmen Electra, and according to a recent article in the Guardian entitled “How running became the new clubbing”, the idea is now taking off in Europe as well.

In London this month, the Energizer Night Run 5K and 10K races, which also take place in Antwerp, ended with an after-hours DJ-helmed party, with runners offered head lamps and glow sticks and encouraged to dance fuelled by their post-race endorphins.

London’s We Own the Night run takes place in Victoria Park, Hackney, on May 18^th.

[Via New York Daily News]