Founded in 2011, the Asheville Front Runners strives to carry on the tradition of many of Front Runner clubs around the world of giving LGBTQI and their straight allies a way to enjoy running while pushing forward in and celebrating the right for equality for everyone. Inspired by Patricia Nell Warren’s novel The Front Runner, the first Front Runner club began in San Francisco in 1974, and other FR clubs quickly began forming in the United States then in Canada and abroad. Like the first club in San Francisco, some 37 years later the Asheville Front Runners held its first club run on a Sunday in January 2011.

We welcome all friendly runners, joggers and walkers – regardless of sexual or gender expression – to join our group as we strive for equality. We envision this developing into a non-profit group to encourage and support our local, state and national officials to push and grant civil and equal rights for everyone. More information about the International Front Runners movement can found found here.​