Hello Flora! We're glad you're here to talk to us a bit about Early Birds. Let's get right into it. What exactly is "The Early Birds Movement"? Please briefly introduce your project in your own words.
Hi Hannah! Thanks for the invitation. I'm glad I can be here and chat with you about Early Birds!
Early Birds is a sports community that hits the streets of Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, and Munich early in the morning. We started with a running group in Vienna almost five years ago, but now we do many different sports together, such as cycling, yoga, HIIT training, and recently also swimming. It's all about meeting up to work up, sweat together and enjoy sports. We also regularly participate in events as a community or prepare for an event together. We do everything free of charge and voluntarily. This means that our organizing team and our almost 30 coaches do everything without payment. However, you get to know so many nice new people through Early Birds, and so many new friendships have been formed that the time invested so far has definitely not been in vain.
Sounds pretty cool. How did you come up with the idea of founding a running community?
It all started during the Corona lockdown. I met up regularly with five friends outside to go running, as it was the only way for us to meet up without a high risk of infection. Over time, more and more people joined our running group, and soon we had 30-40 people running together. We then founded a WhatsApp group where we could exchange ideas. This was quickly named "Early Birds" because we always went running in the morning before work. The idea of the running community was so well received, that we thought it would be cool to create our own website and Instagram channel to reach even more people, and that's how it all took off.
I then moved from Vienna to Salzburg and discovered that there wasn't a proper running group there yet. So, four friends and I took the initiative and introduced the Early Birds training sessions in Salzburg. Shortly afterward, a few motivated groups of friends formed in Innsbruck and Munich, who also organized the Early Birds movement there.
What differs your training group from other sports communities?
One clear difference is that we train in the morning. Most sports groups offer their training sessions in the evening after work. But I would say that our community not only does sports together, but also forms a strong bond beyond the training sessions. We regularly go out for drinks after the sessions or go to events together. Last year, for example, we went together to Lake Garda, to take part in the half marathon there. There, we were in a shared hotel with over 150 people. The cool thing is that our community is so diverse and everyone is truly "welcome" - from young to old, from beginners to professionals.
This is the perfect transition to my next question: Who are your training sessions suitable for? Are there any requirements to participate?
Basically, as I said, the training is for everyone, regardless of age. We also have an app to communicate with our members, and it's clear that our main target group is students and young adults. However, we also have some older people over 60 who really enjoy coming to our training sessions. The gender divide is fairly even.
What about the physical requirements? Should I be worried about being too slow for the group?
No, it really is suitable for every level! For many sessions we also offer different groups. For example, when training for the "Wings for Life Run" we offer different pace groups to make the training optimal for everyone. These range from 4:30 min/km for ambitious runners to 6:30 or slower for beginners. The cool thing about it is that as a beginner you can learn a lot from more experienced runners. In general, however, everyone can benefit from the community network because most people are really helpful and we support each other so well. For example, one person is a beginner runner and gets tips for that, another person is a physiotherapist and can give experienced runners tips for minor tension or pain.
You mentioned that you're also preparing for specific events. What exactly does that look like?
Yes, exactly. Here we train together for a race. We do our long runs together or in different pace groups, but we also run intervals together on the track. This means everyone runs at their own pace and can adjust the intensity individually. The sense of community, however, pushes each other harder and is more motivated than if you were running your laps alone.
Another event we prepared for together was the HYROX event in Vienna. We even had a training session with HYROX World Champion Alex Roncevic and were able to get valuable tips from a pro. This means that we often find professional trainers who share their knowledge with us.
Okay, I'm convinced. How can I participate?
The best way is via our app, but you can also register via our website: Simply create an account and log in. You're already there and can see all our events. If you click on an event, you'll see the detailed information, the participants, and you can register yourself. Registration isn't mandatory; you can just show up to the training. The advantage, however, is that you'll be informed via the app if anything changes or if the training is canceled at short notice.
How's motivation during the cold season? Are your training sessions still being held and attended?
I notice it myself; it motivates you when you know there's a training session and you've signed up. It's actually easier to get up and get ready, even when it's snowing and cold and you wouldn't normally go out. Many participants feel the same way, which is why it works so well in winter as well. But the training options are naturally wider in summer, as we're more tied to space and infrastructure in winter. We want to offer our services as free of charge as possible, and of course it's easier if you can just do yoga in the park instead of having to rent a gym. In winter, for example, instead of bike rides, we offer ZWIFT sessions, YOGA classes, spinning sessions, or HIIT trainings. However, there is a small fee for participants in indoor training sessions because we split the space rental between everyone.
Speaking of change: Since your beginnings, the group has grown considerably – what has changed the most? What are your plans for the future?
Of course, the organisational effort in the core team has increased significantly. As already mentioned, we were initially just a small running group that met outside every week. We now have around 100 participants at some of our training sessions in Vienna - that has to be planned and considered accordingly. We also get between two and three thousand new members every year, who we naturally want to inform and integrate in the best possible way.
Another big change was that more and more sports were added and some sports also require more organisation and planning, such as indoor or swimming sessions. However, we also had to draw a line here to prevent the organisational effort from becoming too big. We therefore want to leave our sports programme as it is for the time being and are not planning to introduce any other sports. Most of the time, however, something like this comes about by itself anyway, like swimming, for example. We may want to offer more ‘single events’ in the future in order to further increase the variety of sports and be able to better respond to individual wishes.
You just mentioned that you're all doing this voluntarily and for free. What's your personal motivation for running, but also for helping with the organization?
As I mentioned before: you meet so many new people, and I've already made so many friends through the community. You simply step out of your normal "everyday bubble" and connect with people you would never otherwise meet. I also always find it nice to see new people integrate into the group. It's simply cool to have a joint project like this. When you see how big a project like this can become when everyone is motivated and shares the same vision, it's naturally very motivating. The encouragement from the participants also helps and motivates us to keep going.
Okay, thank you Flora for the nice chat and for taking the time. Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?
Thanks too! All that's left to say is: for anyone who's interested and enjoys exercising, or wants to start, give it a try and see for yourself. It's completely free, and you have nothing to lose!