Air Up There Run Crew Building an Inclusive Running Home in Hamilton

A Name Rooted in Hamilton, a Mission Bigger Than Running

Hamilton, Ontario has its own particular relationship with cinema. Dozens of films have been shot across the city's streets, warehouses, and waterfronts, and it is from that local tradition that Air Up There Run Crew draws its name. The reference is a small but deliberate gesture, a way of planting the crew firmly in the city it calls home. But the name carries a second meaning too. To elevate. To lift up. To bring the running experience to a higher place for people who have too often found themselves on the outside of it. That dual purpose, local pride paired with genuine social intention, sits at the heart of everything Air Up There Run Crew does. The crew was founded in May 2019 by Moe and Brad, two avid runners who had recently relocated to Hamilton from Toronto and London respectively. They arrived in a city with real running infrastructure, good trails, a storied race history, and a community of people who clearly loved getting outdoors. What they did not find was a crew that reflected the full breadth of who was actually living in Hamilton. The running spaces they encountered felt familiar to some and unwelcoming to others. Moe, a person of colour, was specifically searching for a group that would feel like home to BIPOC runners, a place where the culture on the run matched the values off it. When that group did not exist, she and Brad decided to create it.

Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive by Design

From the beginning, Air Up There Run Crew was built with intention. The crew operates from an explicitly anti-racist and anti-oppressive framework, which means that these values are not aspirational add-ons or background noise. They shape how the crew communicates, who it prioritises, and how it holds space for its members. The group believes that running does not exist in a vacuum. Every weekend run happens inside a broader social context, and pretending otherwise would be a form of dishonesty the founders were never willing to accept. This philosophy became sharper and more urgent in 2020. Following the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, Air Up There Run Crew introduced a second weekly gathering, a Consciousness Raising run held exclusively for BIPOC members of the community. The concept drew direct inspiration from the consciousness-raising circles practiced by Black women feminists in the 1960s, spaces designed to share experience, build solidarity, and provide temporary relief from the weight of white-dominated environments. For Air Up There Run Crew, translating that practice into a run was not a stretch. Movement, conversation, and community have always been linked. The run became a space to breathe in more ways than one.

Running Hard, Running Together

Air Up There Run Crew has never been precious about effort. The crew runs hard, and that matters. Physical challenge, personal growth, and the honest satisfaction of covering ground at pace are all part of what keeps members coming back. But the crew also holds fast to the idea that running is, ultimately, for fun. Those two things, pushing limits and enjoying the process, are not in conflict here. They coexist in every Saturday morning gathering. The weekly run takes place at 8:30 in the morning on Saturdays, with the crew meeting at One For All, a café that serves as the current gathering point for the group. The rhythm of the Saturday run is familiar in the best sense. Runners arrive, greet each other, head out together, and return to the kind of conversation that only happens after shared effort. Around 15 people make up the crew at any given time, a size that keeps things tight and genuinely connected. Nobody gets lost in the crowd. Everyone is accountable to the group and to each other.

A City That Rewards the Runner

Hamilton rewards curiosity. Situated at the western end of Lake Ontario, the city offers a running landscape that ranges from flat waterfront paths to genuinely demanding trail terrain. The Hamilton Waterfront Trail follows the harbour's edge and connects, for those with longer ambitions, to the Bruce Trail. For runners who want a harder workout, the Dundas Valley Conservation Area delivers rolling, forested terrain that has a way of making every kilometre feel earned. The city also carries serious racing history. The Around the Bay Road Race, held each March, is widely recognised as the oldest road race in North America. Its 30-kilometre course is challenging by design, looping through Hamilton's neighbourhoods in a way that tests even experienced runners. For Air Up There Run Crew, this local context matters. Running in Hamilton means being part of a tradition, and also being in a position to reshape what that tradition includes and who it welcomes.

Disruption as a Form of Community Building

Moe and Brad have always described their crew as a group of system disruptors. It is a phrase that might sound combative in another context, but within Air Up There Run Crew it lands differently. Disruption here means showing up consistently, building something that was not there before, and demonstrating through action that the running community in Hamilton can look and feel different. It means choosing inclusion not as a talking point but as a practice, repeated every week on the road. The crew started small and has grown carefully. New members find their way in not through aggressive recruitment but through word of mouth and the natural pull of a group doing something meaningful. The hope is that Air Up There Run Crew continues to inspire other runners in Hamilton to think about who is present in their running spaces and who is not. That kind of reflection, quiet but persistent, is exactly the kind of disruption the founders set out to create. The miles keep accumulating. So does the work.

Showing Up Every Week in Hamilton

There is something quietly radical about a group of runners gathering every Saturday morning at 8:30 to run together with intention. No fanfare, no spectacle. Just people who have decided that community matters, that representation matters, and that the act of running through a city together is worth doing right. Air Up There Run Crew does not ask for much from the people who show up. Bring yourself, bring your values, and be ready to move. For anyone in Hamilton who has looked at the running scene and felt like something was missing, or who has wondered whether there was a crew that would actually reflect who they are, Air Up There Run Crew has been answering that question since May 2019. The café One For All opens its doors, the crew assembles, and Hamilton gets a little more of what it needs: runners who believe the road should be for everyone, and who are willing to prove it every week.