many would agree, since its inception in 2010, TfG has challenged the fitness industry in so many ways. shaping everybody has been our business, our raison d’être so to speak. our thinking, products, our service philosophies have been aligned with this mantra in mind since the very beginning. not limiting our selves to the four walls of the beautiful three storeys, that we so proudly call home, has been a major reason for the introduction of long distance running. and that long journey began in 2012, october.

there they were, all our players (thats what we call our employees) gathered for our monthly players meeting. and in this meeting, we had a guest, to witness the birth of an idea, an idea that yet again would challenge the fitness industry of the maldives, an idea that would revolutionize running in the maldives.

that guest on the day was Marzooq (Marey), a close friend of ours. and the idea, a whole new concept of running, the birth of that long journey.

on that october meeting, we laid out our plans for the development of a platform that would create many long distance runners in the maldives. a platform that would bring a whole new meaning to running. a journey that had the ultimate distance, a marathon in mind.

on that day we made a promise to ourselves, a promise that will create many distant runners and a promise to make running a passion. a journey. an everyday coffee conversation. on that way, we promised shape everybody with running!

the idea had some things that were not too familiar for the runners (then);

• we were going to charge runners a fee when running was considered a social, free event

• we were going to bring timing technology to an industry that had never used one

• we were going to run, not in male, away from male’, in that beautiful hulhumale’

• we were going to make them all feel that “race day” is approaching.

• we were going to give them all a map, a map that guides their adventure

• we were going to “celebrate running” like never before

• we were going to honour, everybody’s efforts in crossing the finish line by giving everybody a beautiful medal to take home

• and last but not least, we were going to focus on the distance, that long distance, beyond the 5k, into the 10k’s and the 21.1k’s and to ultimately the 42.2km when everyone was all too comfortable (and safe) with the fun 5k distance

and with all this in mind, we wanted a name to sum it up. we knew names such as Berlin Marathon, the Boston Marathon, the Tokyo Marathon, and many other names with cities in them. but to be different, to become the talking point, to remain in the evoked set of every long distance runner, we decided to borrow the most exciting term in the trainings of any distance runner. we called our event, the LONGRUN.

first to bring timing technology to runners

december that year we pitched the idea to Coca-Cola, and they agreed then and there to become a partner of ours (and not just a sponsor), and to help us create a long distance running platform in the maldives that would make everybody “celebrate” running, like they should.

it all started with less than 300 runners on the 15th of february, 2013. all of these runners taking part in 10k and half marathon events had a timing chip installed on to their shoe laces. first time maldives were to experience the beauty of instant results! more than 250 runners crossed the finished line on that day. each of them had a medal! everyone of them celebrated their epic journey. that long journey of conquering the 10k or the 21.1k in hulhumale.

that long journey continued well into 2015 when we introduced the marathon to the platform. on 3rd April 2015 in the odd hours of friday morning, 3:20 am, we had 19 marathoners lined up to run the first ever, international marathon in the maldives. we had six foreigners run this first race, and of the 19 participants, 5 were women. fast forward to 2017, april the 14th. third year since our marathon addition. 56 participants registered in the marathon category (25 of them were women). and we had a special runner lined up to run the marathon.
mr. Brent Weigner who was going to run his 280th marathon wearing 126 bib number. his 126th country of running a marathon became the Maldives. and who is Brent Weigner again? will leave you to google him if you don’t know!

that long journey have taken new heights in 2017. we have taken running to addu city (Coca-Cola runinaddu) and laamu atoll (Coca-Cola runinlaamu). these are going to be annual events that are very promising to attract many international runners to the maldives.

2025 we will be celebrating a decade since the launch of our marathon. and on april 18th 2025, our dream is to have at least 500 marathoners lined up to kick start the 12th edition of that long journey.