Anti Social Running Club (ASRC) founder Michael NG, and Sid Neigum, award-winning Canadian fashion designer, have joined forces to host Dine & Dash, a virtual race in support of restaurants across Toronto.
ASRC started in Edmonton, Alberta, where Michael is based, and came into fruition during the first lockdown as Michael thought of ways to bring community together -- virtually.
"We use the app Strava to connect and track our runs, members are scattered throughout North America, some in Asia, mostly in Canada and that's kind of how it started, just a small group of friends in Edmonton decided to start a running club at the start of the first lockdown," Michael explains.
As Michael saw just how successfully the concept managed to bring his group of friends together, he started to think of other communities that could use support and evidently landed on the hospitality industry, specifically restaurants.
Following a successful Dine & Dash event in Edmonton, Michael decided to bring the concept to Toronto and reached out to friend and fellow marathon runner, Sid Neigum.
Sid jumped on board almost immediately with little hesitation as his history in running, desire to launch an activewear line and his overall urgency to help a struggling restaurant industry made the decision to help Michael execute the race an easy one.
The idea is that anyone who wants to participate can register to race either 10 km, a half-marathon or a full marathon. Runners will be expected to complete their race at some point between April 19 and April 25 and submit a screenshot of their recorded run to antisocialrunningclub@gmail.com. Runners are able to choose whether they prefer running inside or outside and are welcome to run at their own pace.
Everyone who completes their run will receive a free dinner of their choice from the seven participating restaurants and an exclusive Dine & Dash long sleeve tee.
When Michael and Sid were deciding what restaurants to support with this initiative, they wanted to choose establishments that could truly benefit from the event.
"We were trying to pick restaurants that didn't necessarily translate well to a takeout scenario and we wanted to have a large mixture of food that didn't step on each other's toes," Sid reveals.
It was a difficult decision for the two but they eventually landed on Alma, Tutti Matti, 416 Snack Bar, Donna's, Hello 123, Imanishi and Pukka.
Flank steak, fries, red chimichurri and a simple salad from participating restaurant, 416 Snack Bar.
As organizations and individuals band together to help support the struggling restaurant industry, creative and communal initiatives like this are always refreshing to see. So if a run for a good cause followed by a delicious meal from some of Toronto's finest is for you, make sure you sign up to race on their website before registration closes April 17.
