EUGENE, Ore. (BVM) — American distance running and track and field popularity tends to go through waves. 

The last big running boom occurred in the 1970s when the likes of Steve Prefontaine and Frank Shorter made running popular to everyone. Prefontaine not only emblazoned himself on the track, but he participated at kid running camps where he inspired younger generations to take up the sport. 

Jaw-dropping performances and unique personalities put Americans in awe of the world of running which helped create the boom. The popular runners of the ‘70s ultimately made running fun and for all people no matter skill, size or experience.

Since that time, running as a sport has started to drift out of the public eye. Kids’ focus shifted back to the hard-hitting team sports with the major organizations such as basketball, football and baseball. There is a reason why Americans shifted back to the team sports. It is mainly because of the personalities that make up those sports. Think of any pro major sport in America and you can make a detailed list of players who have great personalities: LeBron James, Patrick Beverly, Odell Beckham Jr., Bryce Harper and the list goes on and on. It has long been believed that running is a sport that lacks the personality to make the sport interesting.

Many track and field athletes are reclusive in nature with hard-working mindsets that make it seem they lack depth or intriguing personalities that rival those of other sports organizations. However, this has been proven to be far from the truth in recent years. 

One force that is trying to make running “cool” again is the trend of running influencers. In the last few years there has been a pretty big wave of running influencers who try to bring light to the sport through their social media platforms and YouTube. One individual who has led this charge is Ben Crawford.

Crawford, who is originally from Newport Beach, Calif., but is now a senior attending the University of Oregon, started his YouTube channel back in May.

“I have always been around cameras for a large part of my life so that always felt like the next step,” Crawford said.

Crawford started off years ago as an aspiring running photographer who would show up to local meets and take photos of high school students competing. Crawford formed numerous connections this way and even formed new friendships he wouldn’t have if he hadn’t taken the steps to improve upon his photography skills back in high school. The friendships he formed in high school set the foundation as well as the subject matter for his now budding YouTube channel. 

Crawford admits he didn’t know a lot about the other running YouTube channels or personalities, but he figured he could make it with his camera and editing skills.

He couldn’t have been more right. In a matter of five months, Crawford was able to rack up over 35,000 subscribers and over 250,000 views on his most popular video. He accomplished something in five months that often takes some YouTubers the better part of a year. 

Some may ask why Crawford’s videos gained mass audiences in such a short span of time. Crawford would credit this to the subject matter he and other popular running influencers are putting out.

“I wanted to capture something unique, unseen in the running world.” Crawford said. “I wanted people to see that running is fun and it’s full of runners with personalities that they can relate and see themselves in.” 

Crawford’s videos do just that. They capture the personalities of some of college’s best runners and show them in light that is often not shined. It shows them as human beings, people who like to joke around in the same ways as other people and talk about things like normal people. Viewers saw this and ate it up and suddenly a running craze started to begin. The videos not only inspired young runners, but they reached people who might not know much about the sport. 

Ultimately, it helped to connect the running community. More people were engaging with the sport and making the sport feel “cool” again. 

“I didn’t notice [a stronger connection with the community] at first, but after about the third video, videos started gaining more attention,” Crawford said.

Crawford plans to continue to put out content as well as forge the path to make running once again more mainstream. 

“I think the running community will see more running personalities [in the future],” Crawford said. “I want my content to challenge the current running content platforms.”

Or in other words, bring running to the people and make it for everyone to enjoy. Something that was once successful in the ‘70s and has proven thus far to be successful in 2020.

Crawford isn’t the only one leading the charge to bring running back as a household sport again. There are several other YouTubers and social media influencers who are taking on the same task as Crawford. Two of these influencers are Spencer Brown and Emma Abrahamson. Both put out videos on their channels, The Athlete Special and Emma Abrahamson. Both Abrahamson and Brown were once collegiate athletes who started making videos of their daily routines as collegiate athletes. The videos, much like Crawford’s, aren’t flashy or impressive; rather they truly show how elite-level runners are not much different from a weekend warrior who takes part in a 5k, a local high school cross country athlete, or even your mother of three who is looking for a way to get some physical exercise. They are normal humans.

Brown started his channel back in 2016 while Abrahamson started hers in 2017. Since then, both have racked up thousands of subscribers and views. Like Crawford, they are immensely popular with young runners who long to be successful college athletes themselves. These young runners ultimately help drive the sport because they go along and tell their friends what they watched last night on Youtube or they post the video on social media. It isn’t long before coaches and parents see this and start to take an interest in the sport as well. 

Soon running becomes something many people can take interest in. They can see the personalities that they thought were only present in major sport organizations.They can see the rivalries that form between two running clubs or two specific athletes. They also see that these athletes aren’t much different than themselves. With the help from these young influencers, the sport has the possibility of becoming a worldwide sensation.