If you run with a group in the Philippines, you know how this goes.
Someone posts a race in the group chat. Thirty people react with fire emojis. A week later someone asks if we're joining and nobody remembers. The event link is buried under memes and good morning messages. Half the group finds out about the race on race day itself.
We love our barkadas. But group chats were not built for this.
That's why we built RunMate Groups.
What RunMate Groups Is
RunMate Groups is a dedicated space for your running club, barkada, or training crew inside RunMate. It keeps your races organized, your members together, and your group's history in one place. No more digging through Messenger to find that registration link from three weeks ago.
You can create a group for free. Give it a name, add a banner photo, write a short description, and you're done. Then share your invite link and your crew joins. It works the same way whether you're a casual Sunday fun run group in Cebu, a serious running club in Manila, or just a tight circle of friends who always sign up for the same races.
Planning Races Together
This is the part that actually changes how your group operates.
As the group leader, you can schedule upcoming races inside your group. Race name, date, distance, location. Every member sees it the moment they open the group. They can mark themselves as interested, registered, or not coming. You can see at a glance who's in before the race even happens.
No more "sino joining?" messages. No more counting fire emojis and hoping that means they actually registered.
For running clubs across the Philippines, especially in Cebu where the fun run calendar is packed year-round, this is the missing piece. A proper place to plan races together, not just react to them in a thread.
How the Roles Work
Every group has a leader. That's whoever created it. The leader approves new members, assigns co-leaders to help manage things, and removes people if needed.
If your running club is big, you can add co-leaders to share the load. They can manage races and members the same way you can. Everyone else is a regular member with full access to everything in the group.
It's a simple structure but it mirrors how most running groups in the Philippines actually work. One or two people who organize things, and everyone else who shows up and runs.
Joining a Group
Groups on RunMate are invite-only. That keeps them tight and relevant instead of turning into a public directory nobody maintains.
If someone invites you, you request to join. The leader approves you and you're in. If you're a leader who wants to bring your running group onto RunMate, you just share your invite link. Post it in your Facebook group, drop it in your chat, or send it directly to your members. Takes about two minutes to get everyone set up.
Free vs Pro
Free accounts can create one group with up to two scheduled races at a time. That covers most running barkadas in the Philippines just fine.
RunMate Pro lets you create up to three groups and schedule more races. If you're organizing multiple clubs or you're deep in the race calendar, Pro is worth it. Either way, joining groups is always free.
A Proper Home for Your Running Community
The Philippines has one of the most active running communities in Southeast Asia. Cebu alone has dozens of races every year, and the people who join them almost always run with a crew. They train together, register together, and show up on race day together.
RunMate Groups exists because those crews deserve more than a thread in Messenger. A real space where your group's upcoming races, members, and history all live together.
If you already have a running group, bring them here. If you're looking for one, ask around. The Cebu running community is small enough that someone will know someone.
See you at the starting line.
Norman
Founder, RunMate