Devon Lévesque On The Rise Of Runningman, Community-inspired Wellness

Now in its third year, Runningman blends endurance, wellness and community. The three-day festival is quickly becoming a can’t-miss event

Runningman isn’t a typical endurance race or wellness retreat. The three-day event, held just outside Atlanta, will bring together around 2,500 people this September for running, cold plunges, saunas, talks on health and longevity, and nights of music and food.

At its core, the event is about community built through shared values rather than competition.

“When Jesse and I met, it wasn’t because we worked in the same industry; I had a nutrition business, and he was running 29,029 and a private jet company,” Devon Lévesque, who co-founded the event along with Jesse Itzler, tells Athletech News. “What connected us was values. For me, those are family, community, health, freedom of time and giving back. When you align people through values instead of industries, things just make sense.”

That approach shapes everything from the festival schedule to the brands invited to take part.

“We make the itinerary based on what we love to do — being in the sun, cold plunging, listening to industry leaders, eating really good food and listening to live music at night,” Lévesque explained. “We kind of make the schedule for us, and then people fit in, because those are our type of people.”

credit: All Day Running Co.

Programming is intentionally flexible: attendees can pick between distance goals of 5k, 10k, half-marathon, full marathon and even 50k. At last year’s event, participants ran a combined 11,335 miles, with 90% of attendees running further than their initial distance goal.

“It’s choose your own adventure,” he says. “Whether you run a 5K, a marathon, or just hang out and meet people, it all works. No one’s judging you out there. Whether you do the cold plunge for 30 seconds or run all night, it’s about showing up.”

Resilience runs through the heart of the event. Lévesque, who has bear-crawled a marathon and endured minus-60-degree weather in Antarctica, says those experiences changed the way he sees challenges.

“Everyone has a grit level. My coach in college used to call it HPT and LPT — high pain tolerance or low pain tolerance. For me, resilience opens the brain,” he says. “When you increase your grit level, it allows you to approach life in such a cool, open-minded manner. Things just become easier.”

He sees the same lessons play out for participants at Runningman.

“People come in planning to do a 5K and by the end of the weekend, they’ve run a full marathon,” he notes. “They leave saying, ‘I can’t believe I did that.’ And they also leave with 10 or 20 new friends. That’s the vibe we want.”

credit: All Day Running Co.

Runningman chooses its brand partners with that same philosophy.

“We’re looking for trendsetters, not people just following the trend,” says Lévesque. “Passion wins overall. When you give someone a big activation, you see if they’re serious about their brand or not. Last year, Goodwipes turned a porta-potty into a palace, and Sucker Punch, a pickle company, created one of the most fun activations of the weekend. It’s those moments that stick.”

Listening to the community is what helps the festival evolve.

“The key is just listening to your customers,” Lévesque says. “They took the first risk by coming in year one. So we hear what they want — more saunas, more tents, more coffee trucks — and we make adjustments. It gets better each year.”

People gather in the indoor sauna at Runningman 2024 (credit: All Day Running Co.)

This September, for its third annual event, Runningman will also lean into education, with more small-group talks and learning sessions on topics like longevity, biomarkers and cold exposure.

“These chats will happen naturally, but we’re building more space for them,” Lévesque notes. “Everyone’s asking, ‘What does biohacking mean? Can you really live to 150? If you could, would you be happier?’ These are the conversations we want people to leave thinking about.”

For Lévesque, Runningman remains a passion project as much as a business.

“This is our blank canvas,” he says. “It’s our one time a year to get together with friends, partners and new people, and just have a fun three days. It’s an amazing reset. If you want to try something new, meet people with similar values and create opportunities, this is the place to do it.”

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