As dawn breaks over Delhi on the weekend, the city’s growing run clubs are reimagining how locals experience their capital. These morning routes turn familiar spaces – from the arches of Lodhi Road to the paths of Deer Park – into a backdrop for both exercise and connection.

As AQI in NCR oscillate between severe and hazardous levels, hiking groups and outdoor communities are noticing an increase in participation.

From the Tata Mumbai Marathon’s 65,000-strong field to 5K fun runs in Tier-2 cities, running is now a mainstream consumer category in India, and brands, clubs, and coaches are racing to cash in.

In 2019, Kshitish Purohit and Nakul Butta pored over a digital map that showed two forest pockets of the Aravalli Biodiversity Park of south Delhi. They were located next to each other yet separated by about 2km. They wanted to find a way to link the two with a trail that they could run on.

Delhi-NCR residents are beating stress by hiking trails, climbing hills, spotting wildlife, and breathing better air. All it takes is a few hours on a Sunday.