International Front Runners is an affiliation of GLBT running/walking clubs that have organized in many of larger cities around the world. Inspired by Patricia Nell Warren's novel The Front Runner, the first FrontRunner club began in San Francisco in 1974, and other FR clubs 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 International Front Runner Forum in September 1999.
There are currently about a hundred Frontrunner clubs around the world and they are as diverse as where they are situated. Some of the clubs have hundreds of members, some startups only a few. Many include walkers, not just runners, and at least one club has many 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/walks and many also get together at local restaurants after their runs. 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.
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.
You can also view our growing family album and read advice, articles and anecdotes (including more on FrontRunner/Front Runner/Frontrunner naming) on our miscellany page.
For "official" business, our IFR meetings page has minutes from our regular meetings.