Let it Ripple: Run the Alps x Alpine Run Project
Top photo: Aleksandra Janiak
“After a week of travelling together, it felt like a full-circle moment to reflect on how the training and knowledge I gained could impact others. Applying my learning on the Tour du Mont-Blanc has made me want to help others experience the same.”
-Eesa, Run the Alps x Alpine Run Project summer intern 2025
This past season, Run the Alps launched an innovative partnership with our friends at Alpine Run Project, or ARP – an internship program for graduates of Alpine Run Project. The internship aims to build their skills, experience, and confidence, while gaining a better understanding of what it takes to be a Mountain Leader and lead Run the Alps tours. Our interns would be able to use their new-found skills in their day-to-day life, in their roles as youth ambassadors for Alpine Run Project, and see if guiding could be a career trajectory for them.
But let’s back up.
What is Alpine Run Project?
Alpine Run Project is a “youth-led wellness movement powered by the belief that running in nature can transform lives,” according to its founder, John McAvoy. ”At its heart, ARP is an empowering community that champions wellbeing, develops leadership, and opens doors to inspiring people and places.”
And John’s own backstory that led to ARP’s founding is staggering. After 10 years in prison, he wanted to help keep others from starting down the same path he did, and so initiated a 6-month fitness program aimed at kids from inner cities. Today, their journey through ARP culminates with earning a spot to travel to the French Alps and race in the iconic UTMB Mont-Blanc series. There’s a lot behind this story, what led John to develop the project, what it offers those who go through it – you can read the details in The Guardian, but it boils down to this: when you’ve got something good, share it. And that’s just what John is doing with running, and nature, and freedom.
Watch From the Streets to the Peaks, a film about John and Alpine Run Project:
Run the Alps x Alpine Run Project
Run the Alps was first introduced to Alpine Run Project when a film proposal about it was submitted to our Film Festival Grant Program in 2024. Elevation by Carl Adams & James Mitchell, of Primal Runners, tells the story of 21-year-old David Ervine – how he eventually got into the right crowd and how it led to him toeing the line of the UTMB Mont-Blanc YCC trail race in Chamonix, France in August 2023 as a participant in Alpine Run Project. His story shows the transformative power of the program.
At Run the Alps, we loved that Alpine Run Project was helping expose a more diverse audience to trail running and its benefits. That mission aligns with Run the Alps’ belief that trails are for everyone, and our own desire to help create a space where everyone feels welcome to run.
We first met with the ARP crew in-person when they came to Chamonix for the 2024 Mont-Blanc Marathon. We led a shakeout run, and supported them during their races. From there, we immediately sensed ARP’s energy and good vibes, and knew we wanted to work together.
The Run the Alps x Alpine Run Project Internship Program
Over the winter of 2024-2025, we got to work on the internship program. Run the Alps guides Becki Penrose and Cam Bevan mapped out the curriculum, while the ARP crew extended the opportunity to their youth ambassadors – graduates of the ARP program who are now actively supporting the next generation of young runners.
Two candidates were selected by ARP: Beth and Eesa.
The internship kicked off with an in-person training in the Peak District, UK. Becki joined Beth and Eesa to cover topics ranging from what a Run the Alps trip is like to the mountain environment (including geology, weather, climate change and how it’s affecting the Alps), and how to plan a successful group run in the mountains. The day focussed on learning on the go – planning a run, checking the weather, navigation, and moving on the trails.
This in-person training was followed by a webinar on group management and the responsibilities of a group leader, and another on safety and handling incidents and emergencies in the mountains.
After that, Beth and Eesa headed to the Alps to shadow a Run the Alps tour! They began with a refresher day alongside the guide leading their assigned trip, then they each joined a 10-day Tour du Mont-Blanc trip, observing, learning, and contributing to the team.
How’d it go?
After their training and tours, we asked our two interns and the guides they shadowed a few questions. Meet Beth and Eesa:
Beth
from Birmingham, England
What drew you to the Run the Alps x ARP internship program?
Trail running has transformed my life. I used to be very shy and a completely different person, but being outdoors and in the mountains makes me feel so peaceful and calm away from the fast-paced city life that can be so overwhelming.
I know there are so many people out there like me that are yet to discover the mountains. I want to help show that everyone deserves to be in these spaces as well as help break down the barriers so others can enter this incredible space, and believe the partnership between Run the Alps and ARP is a great stepping stone to this goal.
What was the biggest challenge of the internship for you?
I was quite nervous going into the tour and lacked confidence, because I was going into a new space, with people I had not met before and a lot of unknowns. The challenge of thinking on my feet, adapting to the environment around me and socially challenging myself was exactly what I needed. I had the best time and proved to myself that I can do it.
What was your favorite moment from the program?
I really enjoyed learning about navigation and the weather forecast, alongside how safety and risks interact with group trail running. My highlight, though, has to be running the Tour du Mont-Blanc. I have been watching UTMB on my phone since the age of 15, so being able to live this dream in person was surreal.
What is something you learned through the experience?
I loved learning about climate change in the Alps, wildlife and the animals. My favorite fact was how Alpine Ibex grow a ring, similar to trees, for every year of life on their horns.
How do you hope to use what you learned for other endeavors?
I learned a lot around keeping a group safe and still having fun when exploring the trails. I hope to use this to take more young people from ARP out on to the trails, as well as going further by getting involved in activities that allow women and those who are less likely to end up in these trail spaces out into nature to improve their mental health.
From Suze – Beth’s Run the Alps Guide on the Tour du Mont Blanc.
Beth was absolutely incredible. She really helped tie the group together – her warmth and authentic curiosity were welcome additions to our TMB team.
Due to her profession as a pediatric intensive care nurse and experience trail running she was good at taking care of herself, and very quick to understand the implications of helping people to take care of themselves on long days. Something that will be useful working with inexperienced youth.
Overall she was a delight to have around and incredibly hard-working. The tour guests and I couldn’t have been more pleased to have her with us.
Eesa
from London, England
What drew you to the Run the Alps x ARP internship program?
I knew that the Run the Alps program would take me out of my comfort zone and allow me to become a specialist in travelling through mountains. I would be able to support inner-city young people to feel confident in the mountains and show them how to transfer the benefits of being in nature to the environments that they live in.
What was the biggest challenge of the internship for you?
Learning how to support others running on technical terrain was my biggest challenge – but I felt supported by Run the Alps’ International Mountain Leaders. They helped me learn the correct form for travelling through technical terrain, and how to translate that knowledge into practical support.
What was your favorite moment from the program?
My favorite moment from the program was safely returning with the guests to Chamonix after our Tour du Mont-Blanc experience. After a week of travelling together, it felt like a full-circle moment to reflect on how the training and knowledge I gained could impact others. Applying my learning on the Tour du Mont-Blanc has made me want to help others experience the same.
What is something you learned through the experience?
I learned how quickly the weather can change in the mountains due to the microclimates at high elevation. This also taught me how to use weather forecasts to help ensure safety in unpredictable conditions.
How do you hope to use what you learned for other endeavors?
As an ambassador of Alpine Run Project, I want to teach new runners from inner city backgrounds about the trail environments found in the UK, and how they can access these areas safely, [then] help them progress to training in European mountains. The training that I have received from Run the Alps has given me awareness to ensure that I mitigate risk when in the mountains. When travelling in this terrain, I will now feel more secure and safe and feel able to effectively respond to any circumstances that I find myself in.
From Coline, Eesa’s Run the Alps Guide on the TMB
Having Eesa with us during the Tour du Mont-Blanc was truly beneficial for the group. He brought a wonderful energy and a contagious enthusiasm that uplifted everyone. He was constantly amazed by the landscapes and fully engaged, both in discovering the trails and in seeking ways to improve his running technique.
Coming from a road running background, Eesa was faced with many new aspects of trail running. This experience clearly opened his eyes to a whole new world of possibilities and challenges. Day after day, he seemed more at ease on the trails, gaining confidence and fluidity.
Eesa also shared openly about the challenging environment he comes from, which led to rich and meaningful conversations within the group. His openness and authenticity created a unique and valuable sociocultural exchange that was deeply enriching for all of us. He’s shown great maturity and a truly open mind. His presence, curiosity, and eagerness to share made him an ideal observer and a real asset to the group.
Where we go from here
Our first year with the Run the Alps x Alpine Run Project internship was everything we had hoped it would be. Beth and Eesa were wonderful to have along on our trips, and helpful on and off the trail. They learned valuable mountain leadership skills from Becki, Cam, Suze, and Coline, and they picked up interpersonal skills that we hope will serve them well in the years ahead, on and off the mountain.
Partnerships like this are more than just a one-way path. Having the Alpine Run Project crew as part of our world enriches the lives of everyone at Run the Alps, enormously. It’s opened our eyes to lives different from our own, and in doing so has made us more empathetic and understanding. We want the trails to be for everyone, no matter their backgrounds or life experience. And we hope that by helping pry open the doors just a little bit wider, everyone will benefit.
Hear from Alpine Run Project founder John McAvoy on how the program has grown since its start in 2022, and what our new collaboration offers:
Thank you, Alpine Run Project– and here’s to next year– and all the years to come. We’re now busy planning some exciting developments for 2026 – and look forward to sharing more news soon!
Thanks to the program coordinators Nazneen Jassat from ARP and Charlotte LeFlufy from Run the Alps. Thanks to Becki Penrose for leading the in-person training and first webinar and Cam Bevan for leading the second webinar, and to Coline Paquereau and Suze Walker, our International Mountain Leaders on the two tours.
Learn more about Alpine Run Project
Alpine Run Project – and how you can support them
Nike ACG – Supporter of ARP
Make It Count – from Run the Alps 2025 Film Festival by Alpine Run Project
Further Together – Alpine Run Project Year 3
