Becoming a Run Lead

Who We Are

We are a group of volunteers who are passionate about trail running in the forests around Berlin. We enjoy exploring these trails and sharing them with our community through weekly social runs.

How to Become a Run Lead

1. Join our events - Attend a few Sunday runs to experience what we do

2. Get to know us - Connect with current run leads during or after runs

3. Express interest - Let us know you'd like to help lead runs

That's it. No formal application or requirements beyond enthusiasm and trail running experience.

Run Lead Responsibilities

As a run lead, you commit to:

Before the run:

• Select or create a route (15-25 km typical length)

• Communicate your availability for upcoming Sundays

• Share your route by the Saturday of the week before your run (ideally 8 days in advance)

• Send a pre-run update on Saturday evening (see details below)    

During the run:

• Set an appropriate pace and maintain group awareness (see FAQ)

• Check in with runners who are falling behind, some may prefer to continue at their own pace, but always confirm this before moving on

• Navigate the planned route, and encourage others to start navigation on their wearable devices

After the run:

• Add the BTR Strava profile to the running activity on Strava

• Share photos or highlights via Heylo when available

• Provide feedback to other leads about the route or any issues

If you need to cancel: Life happens. If you get sick or can't make it, just let us know as soon as possible. We'll find someone to step in. As run leads, we often run together and can cover for each other.

Availability: Run leads are not expected to be available every Sunday. Simply let the team know which Sundays in the coming weeks or months you can lead. We coordinate among ourselves to ensure coverage.

About Our Runs

When: Every Sunday at 9:30 AM - rain, shine, or Berlin Marathon weekend

Where: Predominantly forest trails around Berlin

Distance: Typically 15-25 km with varying elevation gain

Terrain: Forest trails, urban trails, or mixed

Pace: Social pace that accommodates the group

Core principle: Consistency and continuity. Runners should know they can count on us every Sunday.

Leading Your Run

Picking a Route

Choose a route you feel comfortable leading yourself. Familiarity with the route is important for confident navigation and answering participant questions.

Route requirements:

• 15 - 25 km

• Include an early exit option when possible (shortcut to finish or nearest train station)

• Ensure accessibility to public transportation at start and end points

Need inspiration? Browse our route library. This collection includes all routes we've run plus routes shared by other Berlin trail runners.

Sharing Your Route

Deadline: Saturday of the week before your run (8 days in advance)

This timing allows us to create and publish the event by Sunday, so we can announce it at the end of that week's run.

Send your route to the team in any format:

• GPX file

• Strava link (made public)

• Komoot link (made public)

• Garmin link

• Hand-drawn map on a napkin (we'll figure it out)

We'll standardize it and add it to our collection using this naming convention:

{distance} | {cumulative ascent} | {location} | {trail/park/mixed} | {elevation coefficient} | {descriptive name}

Example: 

22km | +450m | Grunewald | trail | EC24.0 | Teufelsberg Loop from S-Wannsee

Optional: Use our naming tools on GitHub to generate standardized route names yourself.

Event Creation

We handle event creation to keep things frictionless. You pick the date and send the route, we do the rest.

Want to personalize your event? You can optionally:

• Provide a cover photo (we'll add the BTR logo)

• Write a custom event description

• Edit details directly in Heylo once published

• Add special notes (e.g., "coffee stop planned at 12km" or "technical terrain today")

Pre-Run Update (Saturday Evening)

The day before your run, post an update in Heylo to let participants know:

• Run status confirmation, e.g. "Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at 9:30!"

• Weather forecast: Morning conditions, temperature, chance of rain

• Public transportation updates: Any S-Bahn/U-Bahn disruptions or event-related closures    

Communication

Route selection deadline: Saturday of the week before your run (8 days in advance)

Pre-run update: Saturday evening before your Sunday run

Availability updates: Let us know your Sunday availability as far in advance as possible

Cancellations: As soon as you know you can't make it - no stress, we'll find coverage

Questions or concerns: Reach out to any current run lead, we're here to support each other

Resources

• Route Library

• BTR GitHub Tools - Route naming and analysis tools

• Heylo Platform - Where events are published