Photos: Diplo’s Run Club event drew over 9,000 attendees

It might indeed be trite to talk about the weather, but if there’s a place to host a 5K followed by a rave in the bottom half of January, let’s face it, Phoenix is tops. 

Make it a Diplo’s Run Club event, followed by an early-in-the-day rave, and it only gets more attractive. It was sexy enough for more than 9,000 people to wake, run and/or rave.

Led by Diplo, folks took an urban run through central Phoenix, which was followed by a concert where the Grammy-winning DJ performed. He compared doing both to a night out, when he spoke after the race.

“It’s a pretty easy equation. If you’ve ever gone out dancing or raving, you look at your steps and you’ve basically been on a treadmill for four to six hours. This just focuses that energy. You’re concentrating on your exercise, but you’re doing it as part of a community,” Diplo said.

Tara Dower, a worldwide top ultrarunner, won the women’s race. She arrived in Phoenix the night before the race, raring to go. She hit the finish line in 18 minutes, 10 seconds.

“I got in at 12:30 a.m. and went to bed at 2,” Dower said, laughing. “I wasn’t planning to race competitively — I just wanted to go out and have fun. But it felt really good, and I ended up running a personal best,” in a statement post-run.

She described the atmosphere as unlike a traditional road race.

“It’s very social, very hype, almost overstimulating, but in a good way,” she said. “That’s what made it fun.”

Flagstaff’s Ruairi Moynihan took the men’s race in 15 minutes, 16 seconds, the fastest winning time recorded across the 8-event series thus far. He, like many, was attracted by the fun nature of this race.

“Combining a 5K with an EDM concert, it’s a fun combo,” said Moynihan, a former 1,500-meter runner at St. John’s University. “You put in the work first, then the party vibes start. It lives up to the name.”

The event also features a charity component via a partnership with PLUS1. The nonprofit helps artists and brands maximize social impact. Diplo’s Run Club contributes proceeds from each tour to support youth in high-need communities.

British DJ Will Clarke opened the post-race party and the whole event was livestreamed globally on Major Lazer’s Twitch channel so fans could watch everything in real time.

Diplo was jazzed about the turnout and good vibes.

“This might be the biggest run club Arizona’s seen,” added Diplo, who is also a minority owner of Phoenix Rising FC, the American professional soccer team based in Phoenix. “There are a lot of local run groups here, but the goal is to bring everyone together from across the area and help people meet new faces. That’s the main thing. You show up, work hard and have fun. That’s what this is all about.”

Here are more photos from Diplo’s Run Club’s first Phoenix event: