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Looking for a date? Head to a run club
Summary
Speed dating gets a whole new meaning as run clubs and sports hubs become the new hunting ground for singles
Tejaswini Nair, a product manager in Bengaluru, was in a bad place last November after she lost her dog within months of ending a long relationship. A friend asked her to come for a Singles Day run organised by global sports brand Puma and dating app Bumble in Bengaluru that month. “I needed some stimulus to snap out of the funk and was curious to find out who and how many actually show up at 7am on a Sunday for a run," says Nair, 29. There were 300 participants for the run that was followed by a mixer, which included speed-dating, breakfast and games. Looking at the bright side, Nair, for whom fitness is an integral aspect of life, says, “Even though I didn’t end up meeting anyone interesting, I got some exercise and had fun."
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Unlike Nair, who has never once used a dating app, Bengaluru-based Aniket Roy, 27, has used all dating apps across the world because he “travels a lot" but has grown “bored and tired" of them. These days, Roy, international business lead for a fintech firm, prefers joining local run clubs and attending events to meet singles and new people instead of swiping. The Puma x Bumble Singles Run was a no-brainer for him especially since he has had luck finding a date at a run club in New York City.
Single people like Nair and Roy across the world are choosing to sweat it out instead of swiping. Run clubs, exercise-themed events and padel and pickleball courts are increasingly emerging as the places to find love, friendship and flings as people grow sceptical and tired of a digital-first approach to dating through apps such as Tinder, Bumble and Hinge, which had enjoyed plenty of success before the pandemic.
Strava, a sports and fitness activity tracking app, in its 2024 Year in Sport survey noted that “making a social connection" was a lead motivator for people to exercise, leading to a surge in the number of people joining run clubs and group activities. Gen Z, a group that has grown up with smartphones and 24x7 connectivity, is particularly seeking alternatives to apps when it comes to dating. Strava also found that about 20% of Gen Z went on a date with someone they met through exercise and were four times more likely to want to meet people through working out than at a bar. Moreover, 58% respondents in the Strava survey said they had made new friends via fitness groups.
According to global data from Tinder’s Year in Swipe 2024, “gym" was one of the most popular interests among Indian users, reflecting a growing trend of people seeking partners who share their lifestyle and hobbies. Spotting the trend, brands as well as apps have moved quickly to create events and experiences to connect and engage with their target audiences in real time in real life. That was the rationale for Puma to partner with Bumble for the Bengaluru Singles Run, says Shreya Sachdev, head of marketing and associate director, Puma India. The partnership continues as more running-based mixers are in the pipeline this year. In time for Valentine’s Day, the Singles Run came to Mumbai on 15 February and a similar run is planned for Delhi later this year. Not one to be left out of the party, Tinder organised The Move On Game, a pickleball-driven mixer, a ticketed event with live music, food and drinks, in Delhi on 9 February.
WHAT’S AILING APPS?
Multiple reports and surveys have noticed that globally, young people are going off dating apps. The most striking thing about the Puma x Bumble Singles Run was the age range of the people who showed up. Nair and Sachdev noted that the majority of the participants were aged 21-25, basically Gen Z. That particular generation is deeply sceptical and suspicious of dating apps and many of them have never been on one.
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Sanya Masand, a 21-year-old student at Singapore Management University, has not downloaded a single dating app till date. “All my friends and I know of someone who has had a bad experience on these apps. Despite struggling to meet people in the early days after I moved to Singapore, I never flirted with the idea of signing up on a dating app. Instead, I turned to tennis, a game I have played all my life. Today, a lot of my friends, both social and professional, are people I met primarily through tennis," says Masand.
At 35, SR, a Bengaluru-based advertising professional who did not want to give her full name, is on the other end of the generational spectrum. Divorced seven years ago, she downloaded Tinder, Bumble and Hinge soon after. “I deleted Tinder in 7 minutes, kept Bumble for about 12 hours and Hinge was dumped after a week of inactivity. It felt like scrolling through grocery items," she recalls.
Nair and Roy have more reasons to avoid swiping on apps. Nair avoids them as she refuses to let an algorithm decide her love life. Roy is simply bored of dating apps. “At some point all the swiping and endless texting feels like a toxic circle. Most of my friends have given up on them too. Post-covid, most people want to actually meet and interact with each other in real life," says Roy.
A decade back when dating apps started becoming popular in India, they came with the promise of greater choice. Today, that’s not the case. “People have realised greater choice is an illusion. They have figured out that dating apps are not in the business of helping you find love but in the business of keeping you looking for it forever," says Bengaluru-based Priyanka Bharadwaj, founder of Marriage Broker Aunty, a relationship coaching and counselling startup. While dating app activity peaked during covid, post-pandemic people are trying to overcompensate for the pandemic fatigue by going out and meeting others.
“People are exhausted of making connections virtually. I know a lot of Gen Z folks who have never been on dating apps as they don’t see that as a way of finding love," adds Bharadwaj.
MAKE IT SPORTY
Nair, who is still in touch with two people she met at the Singles Run, says she would readily attend more sports and exercise-themed mixers even if they are organised by dating apps. “These events are more interactive than an app and I am actually meeting and speaking to the person before deciding whether I like them or not. People crave eye-to-eye contact," says Nair. Roy says sports offer a fun, relaxed environment in which to meet people and everyone is either looking for a good conversation or a good run. Wellness is the prevailing macro trend in dating, says Nair, who wants a partner who is fit enough to keep up with her as they age.
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Last year, Bumble’s internal survey showed that nearly 3 in 4 Indian singles are open to sports-themed dates, and almost half (44%) consider a lack of interest in sports a dealbreaker, says Pracheta Mazumdar, Bumble’s senior marketing manager for India. “According to our 2025 Dating Trends predictions, nearly half of single Indians on Bumble stated that unique and quirky interests are now key to attraction. Not only does this help identify partners, start conversations and build compatibility, but almost 1 in 2 Gen Z singles agree that geeking out on something together is a form of intimacy… and those are just a few reasons why we have brought sports and fitness into the mix," says Mazumdar.
Roy observes that new people are showing up at run clubs, growing the dating pool, as most have introduced shorter runs (3km or less). It’s a win-win as the running community also grows. This was the reason Puma chose to partner with a brand with which it seemingly has nothing in common. “It was a great way of connecting with a new audience (Gen Z) in a sport where we have a good offering," says Sachdev. As for the apps, they are not limiting themselves to sports and fitness. Bumble has organised festive mixers, partnered with Spoken Fest, joined hands with music festivals, including Magnetic Fields and Lollapalooza, and ensured several singles and couples had a day to remember at the Dua Lipa concert in Mumbai last November.
Bharadwaj feels that dating apps jumping into sports and other mixers is just weaving a new marketing strategy. “Falling in love with someone while playing pickleball simply makes for a much more interesting story than waiting for a text from someone at 2am. The saddest thing about the dating market is that there has been no disruption since the swipe. Dating apps haven’t leveraged the power of technology to create better experiences. These events are just a rebranding attempt," she says.
The transaction cost of meeting someone through an app is very high because of incessant swiping and text volleys before actually going on a date. Swiping is no longer hot, sweating it out together is.
Shrenik Avlani is a writer and editor and the co-author of The Shivfit Way, a book on functional fitness.
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