Force Running Club Bringing Youth and Joy to Batam Streets

Ten People, One Finish Line, One Beginning

Picture ten runners crossing a finish line together, hand in hand, at the inaugural Barelang Marathon on the island of Batam. It was December 2017, and the distance was 10 kilometers. Not a podium finish, not a record time. Just ten friends moving as one through the streets of a city surrounded by water. That moment, equal parts ordinary and electric, was the founding act of Force Running Club. No formal meeting, no committee, no manifesto. Just a shared experience that made a group of people look at each other afterward and think: let's do this again. And again. And again. The Barelang Marathon takes its name from the series of bridges connecting Batam to its neighboring islands, Rempang and Galang. It is one of the most visually striking race routes in Indonesia, winding across open water on suspended spans with the South China Sea stretching out on either side. For the ten people who ran that first edition together, the setting was fitting. A bridge, after all, is precisely what they were about to build.

From One Race to a Weekly Rhythm

In the weeks that followed the marathon, the group did not wait for another event to bring them back together. They started showing up on Thursday nights for regular runs, a habit that quickly became the backbone of what Force Running Club would become. Friends told friends. Those friends told more friends. The crew grew organically, one invitation at a time, without the push of marketing or social media campaigns. The energy was simple and word of mouth was enough. There was something happening in Batam on Thursday nights, and people wanted to be part of it. The founders behind Force Running Club include Yoke, David, Duvan, and Bambang. Yoke and Duvan also serve as captains, keeping the crew's direction consistent as the membership grew. Together, they were thinking not just about building a running group, but about something with a clearer sense of purpose. That purpose took shape around a specific observation about their city.

Running for the Young Hearts of Batam

When Force Running Club was getting started, the local running scene in Batam was not particularly young. The founders noticed that while running had genuine appeal among older adults, younger people were largely absent from the roads and parks where runners gathered. This was not a crisis, but it was a gap, and it felt like an opportunity. The crew made a deliberate decision to direct their energy toward a younger demographic, framing running not as a competitive sport or a fitness obligation but as a gateway to a healthier and more connected life. The name Force Running Club reflects this ethos directly. The word force here is not about power or aggression. It is about momentum, about something that moves and carries others with it. The goal was to be a force for healthy living in the community, especially among young people who might not otherwise see themselves as runners. That framing shaped how the crew invited people in, how they talked about running, and how they structured their sessions to feel approachable rather than intimidating. Around fifty members now make up the Force Running Club community, a number that reflects years of steady, unhurried growth. The crew never surged overnight. It expanded the way most durable communities do: through genuine connection and the quiet credibility that comes from showing up, week after week, regardless of weather or season.

Three Runs a Week, Every Week

The weekly schedule of Force Running Club is built around consistency and variety. On Tuesday and Saturday evenings, the crew meets at 6:30 in the lobby of the Aston Batam hotel, a central and recognizable landmark that makes it easy for first-timers to find the group. These weekday and weekend evening sessions function as the social heartbeat of the club, the runs where conversations happen, friendships deepen, and new members are absorbed into the fabric of the group. Sunday mornings bring a different energy. The crew gathers at 7:00 at Batam Centre, when the air is cooler and the city is still waking up. Sunday is long run territory, the kind of session that asks more of the body and rewards it accordingly. There is a particular satisfaction in logging serious kilometers before the rest of the world has finished breakfast, and the Force Running Club Sunday crowd understands this well. Beyond these three anchoring sessions, the crew adapts its training calendar to the race season. When competitions are on the horizon, interval and speed work enter the rotation. These sessions are more demanding, designed to sharpen the performance of members who are targeting specific race times or distances. The shift from easy social miles to structured speedwork is a feature of any serious running community, and Force Running Club moves between these modes with the ease of a crew that has been doing it long enough to know what works.

Batam as the Backdrop

Batam occupies a geography that most runners in the world will never experience. It is an industrial and commercial island sitting just south of Singapore, separated from the Malaysian state of Johor by narrow straits and connected to its neighbors by ferry routes that carry thousands of commuters and travelers daily. The city itself is younger than many Indonesian cities, built up rapidly during the economic development push of the 1970s and 1980s, and it carries that quality of newness in its wide roads and relatively modern infrastructure. For runners, this means good pavement and manageable terrain in many parts of the city, along with a climate that is warm and humid year-round. Running in Batam means accepting the equatorial heat, especially during the midday hours. It is one reason the crew gravitates toward early mornings and early evenings, the windows of the day when the temperature becomes something to run with rather than against. The Barelang bridge route, which first brought the founders together, remains one of the most memorable stretches of road available to Batam runners, offering open air, dramatic views, and a sense of running at the edge of something larger than the island itself.

An Open Invitation to Run in Batam

Force Running Club does not ask much of the people who want to join. The entry point is a Tuesday or Saturday evening at the Aston Batam lobby, or a Sunday morning at Batam Centre. Showing up is the first and most important step. The crew's philosophy has always been rooted in accessibility, in making running feel like something that belongs to everyone rather than a select group of athletes. That original impulse, the one that drove the founders to focus on young people and healthy living, is still present in how the club operates today. New members are welcomed with the same energy that kept the original ten coming back after that first marathon finish line. The handholding is literal in that origin story, and it remains figurative in how Force Running Club continues to carry its community forward, together, through the streets of Batam and across whatever finish lines come next.