Zwift hosts first-ever bicoastal treadmill race

On Thursday March 7, Zwift is hosting the first-ever bicoastal treadmill race. The relay event is happening in both New York City and Los Angeles with two run crews, LA’s Koreatown Run Club and NY’s Black Roses facing off. 

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RELATED: Zwift for runners: how to do group runs on the treadmill

One of the best parts of the sport is running miles with your training partners, and if you live in a climate where certain days aren’t runnable, you can end up on the treadmill. A season of treadmill workouts can wear on a person, especially if you get a lot of motivation from training with others. Zwift allows runners to chose between various group runs and races where you can see where you stack up against your real-life training partners. 

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The race on Thursday has a few basic ground rules: every member of the team must run at least once and complete 400m on the treadmill. The race is five miles long, and will run the virtual streets of Watopia. It’s up to each team how they divide the legs. 

The Black Roses are known as NYC’s fastest and most elusive run club. Gear Patrol reported on how the crew got its start in 2013. “[Knox] Robinson and Jessie Zapo gathered a group of passionate runners and on January 1, 2013, what’s now known as the Black Roses held its first practice. The group enticed both men and women runners, especially those engrossed in New York City’s downtown life.”

Robinson, the group’s leader, told GP, “There were downtown folks that you’d expect, and then everyone from nurses to out-of-work bartenders, and marketing types to DJs all evenly split in gender.”

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By contrast, Micheal Pak leads a slightly bigger run crew in LA. The Koreatown Run Club started in 2016. Runner’s World reports Pak didn’t even realize he was starting a run crew on their first meetup. “The first run took place on April 9, 2016. They posted it on Instagram. To their surprise, almost 20 runners showed up.” The group has since grown to about 70 to 80 people a run, and holds four sessions a week. 

If you’re in New York and interested in seeing these two groups face off, tickets can be purchased here. Not in NY? No worries. Canadian Running will be on the ground for the Thursday event. Stay tuned to our social media for live updates from the big apple.