Who We Are

International Front Runners is an affiliation of LGBTQ+ running and walking clubs that have organized in many of the larger cities around the world. Inspired by Patricia Nell Warren's novel The Front Runner, the first Front Runners club began in San Francisco in 1974, and others quickly began forming in the United States, then in Canada and abroad.

International Front Runners took a major step in becoming a more formal body by drafting and adopting a Mission Statement and Constitution at our seventh International Front Runner Forum in September 1999.

There are currently over one hundred Front Runners clubs around the world and they are as diverse as where they are situated. Some of the clubs have hundreds of members, some only a few. Many include walkers, not just runners, and a number of clubs have more walkers than runners. Some of the clubs elect officers, have bylaws and a membership dues structure, many don't. Most have regular weekly runs and walks, and get together at local restaurants afterwards. And the fact that there are three different spellings of the name -- FrontRunners, Front Runners and Frontrunners -- is just a further example of the clubs' diversity.

If there are no clubs in your area, please consider starting one. Click here for more information.

Our website

Here, we welcome you to read about our beginnings starting with Bud Budlong's story about forming the first FrontRunner club. Then read -- courtesy of L.A. Frontrunner Bill Winkelmann -- about how "International Front Runners" organized as more and more FR clubs formed and communication between the numerous clubs increased.

Go to our club pages for a (more-or-less) current listing of the FR clubs. For most of the clubs, we have links to information for that club or else to their website if they have one.

Check out our calendar pages and announcements page for upcoming events (including pride runs/walks) and notices to the FR community.

For "official" business, our IFR meetings page has minutes from our regular meetings.