Beachside run club grows to more than 2500 members in two years

As the sun rises across Australia, so too do thousands of people who meet up in their local community for this ever popular activity.

As the sun rises across the nation, so too do thousands of Australians who meet in their local community to go for an early morning jog.

In 2022, Tara Meakins relocated to Sydney after living in London and co-founded the Coogee Run Club with a person she met on a local Facebook group.

Since then, the club has “exploded” and now boasts more than 2500 members who regularly meet up each week for an early morning run along the coast.

“On the first run one person showed up, and now we have more than 2500 members,” Ms Meakins said.

“Our biggest run had 255 people, which was in January and is always the case because in January people love to get their New Year’s resolutions rolled out.

“It has just exploded. In the first year we had about 45 people join, then in the last six months of last year we kept getting bigger and bigger.

Coogee Run Club co-founder Tara Meakins said membership had exploded since the club started in 2022.

“In the last half of 2023, the run club trend really took off around Australia, as more people came together to look for communities, which has been a big thing coming out of the pandemic.”

Ms Meakins found people had really missed that sense of community while they were locked down and it was something they were looking for coming out of the pandemic.

“We noticed more and more people were looking for that, and we do say the Coogee Run Club is more of a social club with a bit of running on the side,” she said.

“To us it has always been about the social side and connecting with like-minded people and just making the most of the day.”

Coogee Run Club now boasts 2500 members.

Ms Meakins said a new study showed that about a third of Australia’s population were rising early to exercise.

To celebrate 100 years of Kellogg’s breakfast cereal, product owner Kellanova commissioned a survey that found Australians had embraced early morning lifestyles.

The study revealed about 60 per cent of Australians considered themselves a morning person and it was not uncommon for them to head to the gym, go for morning walks or attend run clubs.

About 30 per cent of people’s top motivations for getting up before 6am was to participate in sport and exercise.

Another 28 per cent of people surveyed said they got up early to make time for a nutritious breakfast.

Ms Meakins said the survey results resonated with her experience at the Coogee Run Club.

The group has become its own community and watching the morning sunrise is the highlight of the day.

“It is the exercise that is getting people up in the morning, but we also get together after the run and go to a local cafe for coffee and breakfast, or people BYO and bring their own cereal in a Tupperware,” she said.

“But it is getting together over that nutritious breakfast that keeps people sticking around. It is not just for the run and they leave, but they hang out and spend time catching up and getting to know one another.

“That is what has made it such a community, and on top of that watching the sunrise, I mean, that is just one of the highlights of your day.

“Especially where we are in Coogee, which is in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, it is such a diverse range of people who aren’t even from Sydney.

“I’m from Perth myself and I reckon 90 per cent of Coogee Run Club is Irish.”

About 60 per cent of Australians consider themselves a morning person and it is not uncommon for them to head to the gym, go for morning walks or attend run clubs.

Ms Meakins said the run club was more like a run family because they hung out so much and many of its members were living away from their home towns.

“We run together five times a week, and for a lot of us we aren’t from the area so we don’t have that sense of family,” she said.

“Coming together in a community that is like a family is really important and it has been such a focal point for why we have grown.

“It really fills your cup.”

Kellanova ANZ senior nutrition manager Gina Levy said a growing trend towards early mornings was tied to an increased focus on health and wellbeing.

Dr Levy said more than 85 per cent of Australians agreed that a nutritious breakfast was important to start the day right.

“As part of our global commitment to nourish 1.5 billion people with our foods by 2030, we are continuing to evolve our portfolio of food choices in Australia to include options that are not only delicious but also provide a nutritionally powerful breakfast,” she said.

Originally published as Beachside run club grows to more than 2500 members in two years