Celebrating Ten Years of adidas Runners

It all began in Berlin and Paris. In 2016, adidas Runners, also known as AR, started with a simple, powerful idea: create a space where sport could change lives. Not through exclusivity, but through access, coaching, performance training, and races. Open to anyone willing to show up.

From the very beginning, what they were building was always going to be bigger than the run itself.

"It's always been about people first and connecting people," says community expert and former adidas Runners Captain New York, Jessie Zapo.

That belief became the foundation for everything that followed, carried forward by one simple idea…

EVERY PACE HAS A PLACE

What began in one city refused to stay still – moving through streets and time zones, embracing the rhythm, culture, and energy of every place it reached. Today, adidas Runners is active in over 60 cities across the world, making it the biggest running community on the planet. Each city shaped by its own spirit and people.

For Berlin Captain Lynn Sievers, that scale has always felt personal.

 "I tell everyone who joins the run for the very first time, we have a family now." says Lynn.

Ten years in and that sentiment still runs strong.

DIFFERENT CITIES. ONE MOVEMENT.

Showing up is just the beginning. To celebrate 10 years of adidas Runners, we sat down with two AR members whose lives were changed by it. Different cities, different stories, different reasons for lacing up, but the same feeling of belonging waiting at the end of both.

NILOUFAR REZAEI, ADIDAS RUNNERS LONDON

When AR London member Niloufar Rezaei arrived in the UK from Iran in 2021, she left everything behind. Running became her anchor – and adidas Runners became the community that believed in her potential, even when she didn’t believe in herself. This year, that potential is about to be tested on one of the biggest stages of all. At the London Marathon 2026, Nilou is chasing a sub 2:45 finish, competing in the sub-elite field.

JULI MANZOTTI, ADIDAS RUNERS BUENOS AIRES

AR Member Juli Manzotti wouldn't call herself a runner. She is, as she puts it, simply a person who runs. In Buenos Aires, she found something she wasn't even looking for – a running community that made showing up feel like enough.

A SECOND START LINE

Niloufar Rezaei and adidas Runners Captain and Head Coach Ayo Dada on rebuilding, belief, and what it means to find your stride again.

Iran had given AR member Niloufar a competitive foundation, and she knew what performance required, but when she moved to London, the city asked something different of her. It asked her to start again, from scratch.

 What she found was a different kind of start line, one that tested something far deeper than pace and called for patience and belief she didn't yet know she had.

That's where adidas Runners found her. For AR London Captain and Coach Ayo Dada, coaching is about recognizing potential in people and meeting them exactly where they are.

"It's about helping someone see what they're capable of, sometimes before they see it themselves," says Ayo.

The structure was there - track nights, feedback loops, adjustments, consistency - but the program was only a small part of Niloufar's story.

 "Having a coach and a community like this has been a big factor in my journey and my success," says Niloufar.

Within AR London, no one moves forward alone. Her progress happened within a community that recognized her strength, even when she was still rebuilding it herself - one that ran alongside her every step of the way.

This is what a second start line looks like.

WHERE BELONGING TRAVELS

A conversation with Lynn Sievers and Juli Manzotti on what makes a community feel like home.

AR Berlin Captain Lynn Sievers has carried the philosophy of adidas Runners since the moment she first walked through the door, and she passes it on to every new member who does the same. 

"Running within a group has a huge impact," says Lynn. "To be seen, to meet people who support you, to have people who believe in you.”

For Lynn, that human connection has always been the point.

That belief travels. In Buenos Aires, it found AR member Juli Manzotti. Today a successful content creator, but someone who five years ago couldn't record herself speaking on Instagram.

Creating content helped her find confidence, to try, to risk mistakes, and to do new things. Running was never part of the plan, until a friend mentioned a local event and she thought: why not?

The first time she came to the AR community, she didn't know what to expect. She was nervous. Now, it's something she looks forward to every week.

Juli doesn't chase strict goals or run under pressure. She runs because it makes her happy, because it distracts her, because it connects her. "adidas Runners was key in my journey as a runner," she says.

And when she hears the phrase "Every pace has a place," it isn't abstract. "For me it means company, support, community, a sense of belonging," Juli says.

Different journeys, different cities. But belonging, it turns out, speaks every language.

RUNNING CULTURE IS BUILT BY THE PEOPLE WHO SHOW UP

Jessie Zapo and Onur Şenkardeşler on community, culture, and what keeps people coming back.

Few people have seen adidas Runners evolve quite like Jessie Zapo. As a community expert and former adidas Runners Captain New York, she's watched what happens when the right environment meets the right people, and what grows from it.

"The power of community is showing up for each other," Jessie says.

Over time, she witnessed beginners become captains, members become mentors, and weekly sessions become life-shaping experiences. Culture, she says, is something you build through repetition, shared values, and small moments that signal: you belong here.

"It was intentional to create a space that felt welcoming, full of possibility if you just show up," she says.

AR Istanbul Captain Onur Şenkardeşler knows that feeling well. Coming from a competitive background, he's learned that what truly sustains a community goes deeper than pace or performance, and he brings that understanding into everything he does as a leader. 

For Onur, leadership starts with the simplest of things: learning names, encouraging first timers, and making sure no one feels too late to begin.

"Community is everything," he says. "People that created a connection with the community stayed much longer and enjoyed it much more. Belonging creates responsibility – to improve it, to feed it."

adidas Runners has always been moved forward by the people within it.

RUNNING CULTURE IS STILL BEING WRITTEN

10 years of adidas Runners and running culture looks nothing like it did when it all began in Berlin and Paris. More people are finding joy in running and are crossing finish lines for the first time. More women are leading communities and redefining what a runner looks like.

 The focus has moved away from comparison and spectacle, and towards consistency and something that genuinely lasts.

As Jessie Zapo puts it: "We now more than ever need opportunities to come together in real life and share space, time and energy with each other."

The next chapter is being written by the people already living it; across independent crews, university clubs, and grassroots communities that have transformed running into one of the most powerful cultural forces of our time.

In Istanbul alone, Onur has watched the scene shift from a handful of dedicated runners to packed sessions and newly formed clubs appearing every year, each one learning from and inspiring the others.

"When we act on the same purpose, it connects us – it creates really strong bonds," he says.

 The door keeps opening. The movement keeps growing. And somewhere out there, someone is lacing up for the very first time, ready to go at their own pace.