I hope that you all managed to get out and enjoy our 11th International Barefoot Running Day last Sunday!
While it was never going to be the same as the real thing, our first ever Virtual IBRD seems to have been a success in its own small way. It’s been viewed, liked and shared more than 100,000 times on social media and attracted active participants from all over the world - the USA, UK, France, Italy, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, India, Brazil, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Israel, South Africa, Indonesia, Trinidad & Tobago, Slovenia, Japan and Poland are just the countries we’re aware of so far (if we’ve missed you off that list, please do let us know…)
It was also very encouraging to see IBRD2021 reaching out well-beyond our own membership – judging by the social posts we’ve seen, running alongside the acknowledged barefoot masters were a lot of first-time barefooters, which bodes well for the future of the sport. We’ll be working hard over the coming year to sustain and develop that emerging interest…
Of course, virtual events are no substitute for the real thing (and we are very much looking forward to getting back to in-person meets for IBRD2022) but in these strange and difficult times, we’re pleased that we had the opportunity to keep the flame burning, even if we weren’t allowed to actually touch the torch!
Onwards and Upwards! (with bare soles downwards, of course)
P.S. We’ve heard that there was at least one in-person gathering that took place this IBRD, in Paris. We’d love to hear how it went, so please do let us know if you were there. And if you organised or participated in any other IBRD meet-ups, tell us about those too. Thanks.
