Umbro’s latest campaign celebrates training as a way of life. In the first of two films, we follow Alex, a long distance runner who believes that performance without joy isn’t worth it. For Alex, the solo pursuit facilitated finding some peace of mind, using training as a meditation tool. Yet it wasn’t until he found a running community to join that he discovered the full potential of his training. “When I decided to try and join a group in the pursuit of running, I didn’t know exactly what I was expecting or what was going to come of it, but I let the people and the running show me what’s possible. “There’s some kind of energy and magic that happens when people come together to pursue something that may appear hard at first. But overtime you develop that skillset and you work towards bettering yourself,” says Alex. “Community also helped me understand how to train better and how to unlock other aspects of training and lifestyle that can better running, which is our tool to explore both communities and ourselves”. “Running is about exploring joy, on a personal level but also in terms of your peers and how you can connect with someone else. You might be experiencing joy through it but you also want others to feel that joy that sport gives you. And then you can share that gift or find community within that, through that activity”, he continues. “Running from a place of joy is an enabler for experiencing life better”.

Agency – Common Ground
Director / Photographer – Chris Baker
DOP – Thomas
B-Cam – Harvey Gibson
Editor – Will Cole
Colourist – Nick Watson
Stylist – Tilly Hardy
Producer – Janice Carrie