One Year of BTR

The idea of BTR started far away from Berlin, in Tokyo Japan.

When visiting the city, I found myself craving a trail run. I did what any runner would do: I opened Google and typed "tokyo trail running." What came back was a group called, simply, Tokyo Trail Running. I never made it to their weekly meetup, but I found their routes. I hopped on a train from Shibuya and an hour later I was standing in one of the most spectacular trail running areas I have ever visited in my life.

On the train back, something clicked. Berlin has forests. Berlin has trails. And somewhere out there, a runner new to the city was going to type "berlin trail running" into a search bar and find nothing that felt like home. That was the seed of Berlin Trail Runners.

Formalizing Something That Already Existed

The truth is, BTR didn't come out of nowhere. It was already happening, loosely and informally, on weekend mornings when friends from a WhatsApp group would meet up to catch up, plan upcoming trail races, and escape the asphalt and the traffic lights for a few hours. All we were really doing was giving it a name, standardizing a format and opening the door for others to discover us and to join us.

Back in Berlin, I went for a run with my friend Olga and told her about the idea. She was in. That conversation is where BTR really began.

From there, things moved quickly. Yuri came on board early and has been the backbone of this idea, having hosted the most events so far. Then Wiebke and Martin joined as run leads, two people who have been absolutely essential to what this group has become. A small, committed crew with a shared belief: that the trails around Berlin deserve to be explored, and that they're better explored together.

What We Set Out to Do

We had a few core principles from the start.

First: give people a reliable, safe space to explore Berlin's trails. Navigating a forest can be genuinely intimidating, especially as autumn arrives and the light disappears by late afternoon. There's a real barrier to entry for runners who don't know where to start. We wanted to lower that barrier.

Second: spread out across the city. When we started, my own mental map of Berlin's green spaces barely extended beyond Grunewald. In the past year we've discovered routes in Tegeler Forst to the north, Wannsee and Potsdam to the south, and Müggelsee to the east. Berlin is far greener and more trail-rich than most people realise, and we're still only scratching the surface.

Third: build something inclusive. ITRA data shows that only 29% of registered trail runners are women, a reminder that there's still real work to do in making trail running a welcoming space for everyone. We're proud that 36% of our event attendance has been female this past year. There's more to do, but it's a start.

365 Days, By the Numbers

Here's what one year looks like:

• 64 events hosted

• 76 trail routes unlocked

• 1,223.9 km of total distance covered together

• 25,909 m of elevation gained

• 144 hours and 10 minutes out on the trails

• 426 check-ins across all events

• 307 Strava members

• 275 Heylo members

But the numbers only tell part of the story.

We ran through an icy winter without a single week off. We explored the forest at night with our Night Trail Run series in Grunewald. We pushed our limits at the Grunewald Everesting Challenge, with members hitting personal bests in vertical gain. We left the city altogether for trail adventures beyond Berlin's borders in the Märkische Schweiz and Himmelpfort. We represented BTR at HOKA's #LiftBerlin campaign. And we travelled together to race the Vodno Matka in North Macedonia, our first group race trip, and one that none of us will forget.

What Comes Next, and How You Can Help

On June 21st, we're celebrating with a run followed by cake and carbohydrates at Adik's Café. Details for the run are on Heylo. Come join us on the trails, or just come for the cake. All are welcome.

And if you'd like to give us a gift for our anniversary, here's what we'd ask: help us protect the forests we run in.

We're launching a fundraiser for NABU, an organization that protects forests and natural habitats across Germany and worldwide. The very trails we've spent a year exploring exist because these ecosystems are still intact. Let's do our part to keep them that way. Donations are open now through June 21st.

Thank You!

Looking back at that train ride from Shibuya, I couldn't have imagined any of this. A community of 300-plus runners. Sixty-four events. Night runs, vert challenges, a race in the Balkans, and countless early mornings in the forest.

None of it happens without you. Thank you for showing up, week after week, day or night, cold or hot. Thank you to those who have volunteered, helped lead runs, and put your trust in this project from the very beginning.

There are a lot more trails out there waiting for us.

See you out there. 🌲

-Paulo