Thousands of singles in New York City are flocking to run clubs to meet their soulmate, but some say they are just as rife with drama as the dating apps they wanted to escape.On a sweaty Wednesday afternoon in New York City’s Washington Square Park, a sea of slicked back buns and black Lululemon workout sets performed a mating ritual. At this singles run club, about 1,000 New Yorkers search every week for an antidote to the ills of Tinder and Hinge.
At Lunge’s run the Wednesday before Labor Day weekend, New Yorkers from all walks of life — consultants, waiters, nannies, finance workers, and doctors — all excitedly mingled with each other hoping to find romance in the three miles ahead.A summer marked by the boom in singles run clubs is reaching its denouement as cuffing season, when singles are looking to pair up for the winter, quickly approaches.
New run clubs have popped up all over the city in the last few years, but they’ve gotten increased attention on social media this summer. As people tire of the basic dating apps like Tinder and Hinge, singles mixers in general have grown in popularity, Bowen said. It was formed by the creators of fitness-based dating app Lunge. Lunge started its Wednesday evening runs in May with an original cohort of around 30 runners. That number has since swelled to around 1,000 runners per week.
The sheer number of runners means that, even if someone catches your eye one week, you won’t necessarily be able to find them in the crowd the next week, Cheng said. “You’re always going to have a couple people who are ghosting or are acting like f- — — boys, but I think we’re getting a lot less of it in this run club,” she said. “It’s almost like a mutual understanding that everybody’s dating to try and find the right person for them.”Dylan Johnston for NBC News