We wanted to start this by saying running is the latest outdoor activity to become fashionable. But it’s not really. It’s been around for a while now hasn’t it? At one point not so long ago it felt like you couldn’t move for run club Instagram accounts, not that that’s a bad thing, it’s definitely one of the more beneficial for the population trends to come about. A lot of people reckon that the lockdown of 2020 was what kick-started the movement to doing more movement, and that makes a lot of sense.
One brand that was birthed during the global pandemic is 4T2, a Netherlands-based running brand that puts its emotion for the sport at the forefront of design. You might’ve seen us talk about 4T2 before in an interview we did for the mag with Jurian, the brand’s founder. In the interview, Jurian said that he would like to come back to Manchester, and recently he did.
When Proper caught wind that 4T2 was planning a UK trip, we couldn’t help but get our beaks stuck in, after some umming and ahhing we figured the best course of action was to put them in contact with Track Brewery and their in-house run club, One Foot Foward. The result of the Proper intervention came in the form of 4T2 hosting a 5k run in partnership with One Foot Forward starting at the brewery, finishing at the brewery, and then drinking drinks at the brewery.
The event began at 18:00, with early arrivals having first pick from a selection of SUMS Socks – compression socks designed for running, that help prevent blisters and other unsavoury trotter tears. Once everyone was all socked up they had the choice of picking a pair of shoes to road test from 4T2, the four models up for grabs were the weekdays, one more, sundays and get lost. Each pair has different characteristics, for different surfaces, and different styles of running but the main thing was they all looked just as cool as the other.
A slightly less than advertised 5k circuit around Mayfield Park saw everyone arrive back at Track with smiles on faces, sweat on foreheads, and most importantly liquid refreshments in hand. The evening was whiled away chatting, drinking beer and eating pizza – it was all quite nice actually.
