Runner uses GPS to create festive routes on Strava

Owen Delaney has been planning out and executing some holiday-themed runs on Strava recently. See some of his best work here.

Tim Huebsch December 21, 2016

Owen Delaney is giving his December runs a holiday-themed makeover this year.

The Teddington, United Kingdom resident has been mapping out unique running routes and posting his training to Strava, a social media platform where athletes share their day-to-day training. Some of his routes include Rudolph, Santa Claus and a snowflake. Each route requires a bit of pre-run planning before heading out to Bushy Park, a 1,100-acre public space in the London area.

“I map the routes in the Strava route plotting tool first, then use the mobile app to try and follow them,” he says. “It’s difficult to get it spot on and I have to improvise sometimes if I hit undergrowth too thick and rough to run through, but generally they seem to come out quite well.”

He first began experimenting with his runs two years ago, which prompted him to continue the trend this December. His routes have been gaining traction recently with The Guardian doing a story on the Strava art on Tuesday.

“I did a couple of similar runs two years ago for an online competition,” Delaney adds. “That’s what gave me the idea to do something similar again. Initially I hadn’t planned to do anymore than Rudolph, but people seemed to like it so I carried on.”