Soft clubbing: why youth are trading nightclubs for run clubs

Sunrise as the new dance floor

It is 6:30 AM on a Saturday in September. On the quays of a major city, about thirty silhouettes in sneakers gather around a meeting point spotted on social media the day before. No bouncer, no cloakroom, no queue. They warm up, chat, head out for a 6 or 8-kilometer run, and finish over a coffee. Five years ago, this same Saturday morning would likely have looked like the aftermath of a rough night out. Today, the night out itself has changed form.

The phenomenon now has a name: "soft clubbing." It describes a shift observed in Paris as well as Los Angeles, Singapore, or London, where part of the younger generation is replacing nightclubs with alcohol-free collective formats built around movement, music, and morning light rather than stage spotlights. The run club has become one of its pillars, to the point that some event industry observers are already labeling morning group runs as the new weekend "after-party."

Running instead of drinking

This pursuit is part of a broader movement of fatigue regarding screens, dating apps, and the endless scroll of nights out that are filmed and then forgotten. Waking up early, running in a group, sharing a coffee afterward: the format has the simplicity of a ritual from the past, when running was about neither stopwatches nor competition, but the pleasure of meeting outdoors, together, with no objective other than just being there. It is exactly the spirit that Spiridon championed at its inception: running free, without a bib, far from the mandate of performance.

A downside to watch

This craze is not without ambiguity, however. The more a format grows, the more it attracts the attention of brands and event organizers who see it as a fresh marketing field: pop-up cafes, sponsored partnerships, and polished communication to capture a young, urban clientele. The risk is known to all movements born from spontaneity: by dint of being commercialized, a free and informal ritual can slide toward a paid, packaged product, where social exclusivity takes precedence over welcoming everyone. Some of these morning outings already display registration fees or visible partnerships, far from the freeness that made them initially attractive.

There is also a fundamental question that few articles raise: it is primarily residents of major metropolises, with a lifestyle compatible with a 6:30 AM meeting before work, who can afford this new ritual. Free running without a bib only makes sense if it remains accessible to all schedules, all neighborhoods, and all lifestyles, not just to young urban professionals who have the time and energy to run before taking the subway.

What remains, despite everything

Commercial and generational ambiguities aside, what soft clubbing reveals says something essential about our era: a portion of the younger generation is actively seeking to rediscover real connections, far from screens and standardized nights out, and collective running naturally emerges as a welcoming ground. No bib, no ranking, no finish time to post. Just legs moving at the same pace, and a conversation that has the time to unfold over several kilometers. It is an old idea resurfacing under a new name, and it deserves to be watched closely.

Franck Tuil - Author - Running culture specialist

To continue reading: discover our article on the Spiridon-Clubs, the historical ancestors of these communities that have been running together, without bibs, for much longer than one might think.