New Breed Runners Redefining the Running Scene in Zurich

Five People, One Tram Stop, One Big Idea

At 7 pm on a Thursday evening, a group gathers beside the tram lines at Lochergut, a district that sits just west of Zurich's old town with a gritty, lived-in character that the city's glossier postcards tend to overlook. There are no entrance requirements, no stopwatches, no pressure. Just people ready to run. This is where New Breed Runners meets every week, and the choice of Lochergut as a home base tells you something important about who they are. Not a crew built around scenic lakeside routes or curated aesthetics, but one rooted in an everyday neighbourhood, accessible by tram, open to anyone who shows up. The crew was founded in July 2023 by five individuals who collectively decided that Zurich's running scene had room for something different. Tom, Sebb, Antonia, Noah, and Simone brought together very different backgrounds and abilities, but shared a single conviction: that running alone is a missed opportunity. The idea was straightforward. Get people moving together, build something genuine, and let the community take shape on its own terms. Less than two years later, that idea has translated into a regular weekly run and a crew with real cohesion.

Five Captains, Five Different Strengths

What gives New Breed Runners much of its texture is the fact that its founding five are also its captains, and each one brings something specific to the group. Tom is the one pushing the pace, the runner who thrives on speed and encourages those around him to find an extra gear they did not know they had. Sebb anchors the longer, steadier efforts, leading the crew on routes that ask for endurance and patience rather than pure velocity. Antonia brings a triathlon perspective to the mix, offering insight into multisport training that adds a broader athletic dimension to the crew's conversations and ambitions. Noah turns his eye toward documenting the journey, his photography capturing the moments that might otherwise pass unnoticed: a shared laugh mid-run, the city lit up on a winter evening, the quiet satisfaction of finishing strong. And Simone, known online as Summit Simone, carries the mountains with her even in the city, her background in ski touring and alpine climbing adding a rugged, adventurous spirit to the crew's collective identity. This distribution of expertise means that New Breed Runners is not a crew led from the front by a single vision. It is shaped by five distinct voices that pull in complementary directions, and the result is a group that can hold space for runners with very different goals and very different relationships to the sport.

The Thursday Run That Holds It All Together

The weekly Thursday run is the backbone of everything New Breed Runners does. The meeting point is Lochergut tram station, a spot that is easy to reach from most parts of the city and unpretentious enough to feel welcoming rather than exclusive. The crew sets off at 7 pm, covering somewhere between 8 and 10 kilometres at a pace that is deliberately kept easy. When the group is large, it splits into smaller pace groups so that no one feels left behind and no one has to hold themselves back. The route itself moves through Zurich's streets, offering the kind of urban running experience that rewards attention: a city that is compact enough to feel manageable but layered enough to keep revealing new details on each loop. There is something to be said for the consistency of a Thursday run. It becomes a fixed point in the week, a commitment that is easy to keep because the social dimension makes it feel less like training and more like a standing appointment with people you actually want to see. For many in the crew, Thursday evenings at Lochergut have become a reliable rhythm, a small ritual that holds the week together in a way that solo running rarely can.

A Philosophy Built on Showing Up Together

The guiding belief behind New Breed Runners is expressed simply in how they talk about themselves: nobody should have to run alone. It is a philosophy that sounds modest but carries real weight when you look at how it shapes the crew's culture. There is no gatekeeping around pace or experience. There is no pressure to race or to perform. The emphasis is on mutual support, the kind of encouragement that comes not from cheerleading on the sidelines but from running alongside someone and matching their stride when they need company. Running together, the crew argues, does something that solo running cannot replicate. It introduces accountability without anxiety, the knowledge that others are expecting you at Lochergut tram station is a quiet, effective motivator. It creates space for challenge, because running with people faster than you or more experienced than you naturally raises your own level. And it builds the kind of trust that develops between people who share physical effort regularly, a trust that extends beyond running into genuine friendship. New Breed Runners was built to foster exactly that, and the fact that its founding members remain actively captaining the crew suggests that the foundation is solid.

Running Zurich From the Streets Up

Zurich offers a remarkable variety of terrain for runners willing to explore. The city sits at the northern tip of Lake Zürich, with the Limmat River running through its centre and a ring of hills, forests, and eventually mountains pressing in from every direction. From Lochergut, the crew moves through neighbourhoods that capture the city's layered character: working-class streets alongside renovated lofts, independent cafes next to long-standing institutions, old tram infrastructure threading through contemporary urban life. The 8 to 10 kilometre loop that New Breed Runners typically covers on Thursday evenings is a manageable introduction to Zurich's urban geography for newcomers, and a familiar pleasure for regulars. The city's running culture has expanded considerably in recent years, with other crews adding their own character to the scene. Trail Maniacs Zurich, founded in 2013, has built a community of more than 60 members around trail and sky running, taking their efforts into the mountains and organised into group runs, competitions, and camps. 612run, born from a late night in St. Gallen, has carved out a niche around exploration and post-run celebration, running to feel the city and savouring what comes after. Together, these crews reflect a city that has come to understand running as a social and cultural practice, not simply a fitness habit.

What Zurich Gives a Running Crew

Zurich's scale works in favour of a crew like New Breed Runners. It is large enough to draw a diverse and interesting mix of people, but compact enough that a run from Lochergut can touch multiple neighbourhoods in a single outing. The city hosts serious running events throughout the year, including the Zürich Marathon, which draws both local participants and international field runners to its street-level course. For those with a taste for something wilder, the Greifensee Run traces the lake's edge in a setting that feels genuinely removed from the urban pace, and the Swissalpine Marathon pushes into mountain terrain that tests endurance in a completely different register. For a crew like New Breed Runners, these events serve as milestones within the training calendar, points of shared ambition that give the Thursday evening runs added purpose. Whether crew members are working toward a specific race or simply turning up for the company, the city offers enough variety to keep the running interesting across every season. And when the Alps are visible on a clear winter evening, sharpening the horizon from the streets of Lochergut, the sense of possibility that comes with living and running in Zurich feels very real.

Join New Breed Runners on a Thursday

New Breed Runners is young by the standards of most established running crews, having launched in July 2023, but it carries a clarity of purpose that makes it feel settled. The five founders knew what they wanted to build: a crew grounded in honesty, mutual respect, and the straightforward pleasure of running alongside people who share your commitment to showing up. What they have created reflects exactly that. A Thursday evening ritual, a diverse set of captains who each bring something genuine to the table, and an open invitation to anyone in Zurich who has been running alone and wonders what it might feel like to run with others. The tram stop at Lochergut is easy enough to find. The run leaves at 7 pm. New Breed Runners will be there, and they will be glad you came.