Coopah, an AI-enabled community-focused training app for runners, has just completed its first RunStart Academy. The new eight-week coaching course was designed to gift the benefits of running to those in need, from refugees to people with mental health problems.

After partnering with the UK’s Birch Network, a charity helping people on the periphery of society, and ReSole Brixton, which provides footwear to the homeless and disadvantaged, a group of refugees of varying nationalities – Iranian, Yemeni, Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, Sudanese, Nigerian and Ukrainian – joined the programme.

The group’s completion of the first RunStart Academy was organised to tie in with the end of UK’s Refugee Week on 26 June. The Academy started and finished with a 5km Parkrun, a global running movement that now counts around three million people regularly racing 5km on Saturday mornings.

“We know that running can help change lives, it can give people purpose, improve their physical health and refocus them mentally,” said Peter Cooper, co-founder of Coopah. “Having had personal mental health struggles, I know first-hand how running can change lives. It’s been a pleasure welcoming these refugees to Coopah and seeing them improve weekly but also see the benefits of running – something everyone from all backgrounds should be able to feel.”

While most of the refugees had not previously run more than 1km, all members of the programme could complete 5km by the end of the eight-week course. Hamz, a refugee from Yemen, and Fthawi, originally from Eritrea, both managed to hit sub-20-minute personal bests.

The RunStart Academy functions alongside Coopah’s main offering: a digital platform providing personalised training plans and coaching support to runners for a monthly subscription. Coopah currently supports 3,000 members who can interact with each other, join a mental health chat group and speak directly to a running coach.

The team works with professional coaches to create the plans, but it is the AI factor that is the main difference between Coopah and other running apps.

“Coopah uses adaptive technology to ensure that after each run you tell the app how it was, such as how far you ran and at what pace,” said Cooper. “We use this data to update your plan to ensure you are always running at the right pace, which essentially helps to avoid injury – the tech makes them adaptable. The training plans can run from six weeks to six months.”

Coopah started out as a run club in 2019 – on-the-ground running clubs currently exist in London and Hong Kong (Munich is coming soon) – but the app wasn’t launched until January 2022. The company was founded by Paul Henry and Dan Strang, who is chairman of digital experience creators Xi. “To date we have raised over £300k in funding with another round coming soon,” said Cooper.

In addition to the Birch Network, Coopah’s team also work with the FuelBank Foundation and Run4yourmind to identify potential people who would benefit from the app. They are then invited to join the RunStart Academy. Every graduate from the Runstart Academy receives lifetime subscription to Coopah’s app and training platform.

“The Coopah Runstart Academy is an inspirational run coaching programme for those in need,” concluded Cooper. “From refugees to people fighting mental health battles, the Academy exists to help inspire people to start running.”