Alpine Run Project
Changing the face of trail running and inspiring young inner-city athletes
A project like no other
Our mission is to use our love of sport and creativity to positively impact the world.
So, imagine our excitement when the inspirational Nike athlete John McAvoy—formally one of the UK’s most notorious armed robbers—got in touch about a new project from Youth Beyond Borders (YBB), supported by Nike Running and JD Sports: The Alpine Run Project.
John and YBB’s mission is clear: to open running and nature to young people from all backgrounds. They set the bar high to get 100,000 young people across Europe into trail running by 2027.
In 2023, we followed the story of 12 incredible people from cities around the UK—young people who had never been trail running and, for some, had never experienced nature.
The challenge
To break down the barriers, we created content relatable to a diverse inner-city audience and shared the inspiring journey of 12 young athletes, highlighting the transformative impact of the Alpine Run project, culminating in competing at the iconic UTMB event in Chamonix.
However, this wasn’t traditional film ‘storytelling’. The aim was to inspire young people, so we needed to package and tell those stories in a way that finds and speaks to a young generation—particularly those not already engaged in trail running or outdoor sports.
Vertical-first approach
When creating content to inspire more young people to experience the mountains, you better make sure you’re speaking their language. That’s why we took a vertical-first approach, making social assets the heart of our content strategy.
To reach our audience, we worked with teams at JD Sports and Nike to deliver a vertical campaign through their channels, directly reaching our young, inner-city demographic.
We used a dual capture setup to create early-access 9:16 social assets while shooting for our longer-form documentary later in the year.
Creating high-energy hype reels for Nike Running and JD Sports’ social channels immediately put us in front of the core audience, showing them relatable characters in a new environment.
One of the best things about this project is that we released content as the journey went on, allowing us to capture and share the story as we went, including live at UTMB.
After tracking the team’s initial journey, we were privileged to join them in the Alps for the project’s grand finale. Trust us, there was nothing as inspiring as seeing how these young people responded to the challenge of UTMB.
What we delivered
12-month 9:16 social campaign for JD Sports and Nike social channels
30-minute feature documentary premiered on YouTube
Small and agile crew capturing the action over six months
Photography and graphic design
Impact
Widely acclaimed campaign and project for impact on trail running and the outdoor community
Documentary streaming on Prime Video
500k+ views on social campaign
Multiple awards including Best Mountain Sport Film (VIMFF) and officially selected for the Banff World Tour and a multitude of worldwide film festivals
Huge PR presence across the UK
“I wanted to work with Cut Media because of how important it was to capture the powerful stories of the young people. Seeing the content, I made the right decision.”
JOHN MCAVOY
ALPINE RUN PROJECT LEADER
