Run Dem Crew / RDC / Charlie Dark / 1948 Nike / Collective of creative heads with a passion for running & exchange of ideas

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Bridge The Gap:LDN Calling-The Recap Part 1

So as the dust settles and the air miles are logged I thought I’d take some time to drop a recap on the events of the past week. If you are a regular on this site you may have clocked the first Bridge The Gap Event earlier this year where ten International Crews traveled to Berlin to throw it down in the city and tackle the Berlin Half Marathon. A great time was had by all and the idea was layed for a regular series of meetings in cities across the world. The premise is simple. Take one city,pick an event, gather as many crews as possible and party it up with the weight of a medal around your neck until the cleaners come to kick you out. We run hard but we party harder and Bridge The Gap 2 LDN Calling was no exception.

Since the last meeting many new crews have sprung up on the radar and when the signal was sent 10 crews responded to join us in London and participate in Bridge The Gap. From a curators point of view myself and the team worked tirelessly to bring London Calling to life and it’s only right that we break down what went down.

First Up The Crews:

Joining Run Dem Crew in London we had Paris Run Club, Milano Snakes, Tiber Club Rome, Athletics Far East Japan. She Runs LA, Moskva River Runners Russia, Graviteam Berlin, Patta Running Team Amsterdam, Begins Crew China, Kana Crew Mexico and the founding fathers of the Urban Running scene The NYC Bridge Runners.

Friday night saw the crews flying into London jumping straight off the plane and gathering in the heart of Shoreditch at the Hoxton Hotel to meet and greet,swop stories and prepare for a running experience few had witnessed before. As we rolled out to our secret destination it dawned on me how quickly a passing idea can become reality when you connect with people who strive the push the boundaries of the norm.

Mike Saes and his Bridgerunner crew welcomed me into their homes in the spring of 2011 and since then we’ve kept in regular contact and hoped for the day when we’d run together in my home city. However I don’t think anything prepared us for the energy created when we finally got the chance to mix it up in London.

And So The Weekend Begins: Leake Street Drag Race

What I like about the Urban Run scene is how each crew that forms adapts the principals of the movement to their own city. In New York the sidewalks are congested so the Bridgerunners run in the street where the concrete is softer on the knees. In London we are faced with constant traffic lights and unnatural stops which break up the run and kill the rhythm. To combat this we’ve been working on our acceleration away from static starts and incorporating Sparq chutes and resistance training into our runs. With crews from across the world in town it was only right that we shared our secret and off to Leake Street we rolled for a night off Graffiti, food and Drag Racing London style.

64 entered and when the dust settled the last pair standing were Darkz from the RDC Youngers and Shameek who came through the RDC Youngers project last year. 110m later and Shameek was crowned the last man standing and the winner of the Black Dog Tags. Props to She Runs LA who took the last woman standing tags and the overall Team Victory. Keep the trophy safe my friends and we’ll get it back off you in Amsterdam.