Noah Bloom

Co-founder of @rungoapp: running app 🏃‍♂️ and hotel tech 🛫. Talking running, travel, and startups. 🇨🇦 noahbloom.eth

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

@AnnikaSays Yes, but also I heard from so many builders in Vancouver who went last year & so bailed out this year.

Plus, people aren't into Web Summit specifically.

Plus, the content & subtext of this year's event was off-the-rocker apocalyptic & anti-innovation. I just posted about that

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

I had a fun time at #WebSummitVancouver, but it was also the worst tech conference I've ever been to.

The subtext of the topics, discussions, chatter, and speakers was anti-innovation, anti-West, and anti-technology. And just plain resentful and cynical.

Did you pick up on this? Curious if I should share more specifics.

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

This week, @WebSummit #WebSummitVancouver takes over our hometown with optimism, new ideas, and conversations about where technology can take the world next.

We’ll be set up there with @RunGoApp all day on Wednesday in Beta Section 3.

Come say hi if you’re interested in:
* voice-guided exploration
* travel and ultra luxury hotel experiences
* motivating fitness through adventure, community, and storytelling
* our new Challenges feature, and what's coming up
* why health, movement, and human performance matter more than almost anything else
* running races that feel more human, connected, and memorable

Excited to meet people from around the world, right here in Vancouver.

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

Canada just committed ~$755M to sport over the next 5 years.

It's being widely celebrated. And it should be.

After headlines like "After weakest Winter Olympic medal count in years, Ottawa ups sport funding," this is a confident, mature response. Invest more. Strengthen the system. Aim higher.

But it's also familiar.

It focuses on:
* Expanding access to sport
* Supporting athletes competing internationally

In other words:
* the bottom of the pyramid
* and the top

And that's exactly where we've always focused.

But there's still a missing middle.

Canada doesn't have just a participation problem.
And it's not only an elite funding problem.
We are losing future high-performance athletes in their teenage years (15, 16, 17), before we even know what they could become.

That's where the system leaks.

More funding at the top helps those already in the pipeline.
More access at the bottom brings more kids in.

But if we don't retain athletes through the hardest, most formative years, we shrink the pool that ever reaches elite.
And this isn't just about medals.

Teen sport retention is upstream of:
* mental health
* resilience and discipline
* long-term success
* and yes, Olympic performance

There is also a broader truth that parents recognize:
Teenagers who commit to disciplined sport through high school are more likely to become disciplined adults.

They become what we often describe as "smart kids"…but more accurately, they become high-performance citizens.

People who can manage time, handle pressure, pursue long-term goals, and contribute at a high level — whether in business, medicine, public service, or sport.

This is nation-building.

If we want more podiums — and more capable, resilient citizens — we need to focus here.

This doesn't require reinventing the system.

It's a reframing.

A next step.

One that builds directly on this investment.

I've outlined a simple, actionable fix:
* measure retention in competitive sport during the teen years

A national Competitive Pathway Retention Rate would tell us:
* who is staying
* who is leaving
* and when

Because if we can't measure it, we can't improve it.

I wrote a short proposal on this "missing middle" in Canada's sport system here:

https://t.co/O1Xbs8VW39

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

Canada doesn’t have a participation problem.
It has a retention problem.

We’re losing future Olympic athletes at 15–17 — before we even know what they could become.

It’s costing us medals.
And something much bigger.

My proposal on how to fix it ↓

https://t.co/lGQ36OP9Hu

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

@WHOOP Does it pull the GPS data from your device, or from an activity from another app that syncs to my Whoop, or from the Whoop phone app I need to have with me on the activity?

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

A treat to hear @samharrisorg speak again in person. And catch for 5 minutes to chat after. "We can't just keep swinging between cruelty and chaos."

[RunGo: audio-guided run routes @RunGoApp]

What do you notice when you run in a new place? Palm Beach edition.

Every place reveals itself differently when you run it.

Running here near Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach means ocean views along A1A, warm coastal wind, and nonstop views that have me craning my neck at Palm Beach’s legendary beachfront mansions.

One run, and a place starts to feel different.

What details stand out to you when you run somewhere new?

@FSPalmBeach

#RunGo #RunnerFriendlyHotels #PalmBeach #RunTravel #LuxuryTravel #UnlockTheDestination

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

Monaco delivered.

Last week at the Forbes Travel Guide Summit, the energy was unmistakable. Optimism. Curiosity. A shared belief that luxury hospitality continues to evolve in meaningful ways.

Between the incredible conversations and celebrations, I made sure to do what I always try to do in a new destination: explore it on foot.

Sunrise runs. Sunset runs. Hidden paths and secret staircases. Rugged limestone trails clinging to the hillsides. Viewpoints you simply cannot discover from the back seat of a car.

There is something powerful about uncovering a destination through your feet. You notice the small details. The textures. The stories layered into a place. Movement turns geography into memory.

That theme came up again and again in conversations at the Summit. Guests today are not just looking to stay somewhere beautiful. They want to feel better because they stayed. They want to connect more deeply with the destination around them.

Grateful to the @ForbesInspector #ftgsummit team for hosting such a thoughtful and energizing gathering. The week felt less like a conference and more like a true celebration of where luxury, technology, and wellness are heading next.

To everyone I had the chance to meet in Monaco, thank you for the conversations. And if we did not get the chance to connect yet, my door is always open.

Until the next sunrise run.

@RunGoApp

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

Excited to be heading to the Forbes Travel Guide Summit in Monaco in a few weeks.

It’s a pretty perfect convergence of my world: travel + running + luxury.

@RunGoApp started as a consumer fitness app focused on screenless route navigation, but over the years our work has naturally evolved into travel and hospitality... helping hotels unlock their destinations through outdoor fitness, in a way that feels premium and intentional.

My college years were filled with gigs traveling the world and writing for the Let’s Go budget travel series. My 20s were driven by an insatiable appetite to travel and explore. And today, I get to help unlock destinations through ultra-luxury, technology, and movement.

There are few better barometers for where travel is heading than @ForbesInspector.

If you’ll be there, let me know, I’d love to connect. And if early mornings are your thing, join me for some runs along the Mediterranean and through Monaco’s iconic Formula 1 streets. Always happy to chat travel, running, or where the two collide.

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

Bob Weir left us, but this final performance last summer in SF says everything.
Watch it https://t.co/NTtHJQ6LNg
We will get by, we will survive 🌹

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

This gives me hope 🇨🇦

[Harley Finkelstein @harleyf]

Let’s go 🇨🇦

@build_canada 👏

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

You can only take 1 pair of shoes when you travel, for work and to run?
You need a good looking shoe that doesn't compromise on performance.

Road: @NewBalance Rebel v4+. Honourable mentions: @AdidasRunning Boston, Evo SL, @MountToCoast R1

Trail: @Arcteryx Sylan. HMs: Norda 002

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

@CNVFields I have a practice on Heywood gravel at night. I turn the lights on, by turning the key and taking the key. Do I need to turn them off? How?

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

@brady_h @jiffywild Wishing more fitness influencers started promoting candy and DIY gels and DIY sugar drinks instead of overpriced gels.

https://t.co/ZZhRbgSBaj

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

A better endurance gel... for only 40 cents! I've been experimenting in the kitchen and cooking up new DIY fuel for my long runs.

Check out my homemade recipes to take your high-carb-fueled endurance to the next level.

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

@brady_h Sure, good shoe. Wrong answer.
You need a good looking shoe that doesn't compromise on performance.

Road: @NewBalance Rebel v4+. Also: Adidas Boston, Evo SL, Mount to Coast R1

Trail: @Arcteryx Sylan. Also: Norda 002

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

@harleyf Wow congrats Jess! Does she now need to get on X, or maybe more likely to take on this huge role needs to stay off X!

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

@Reem_AlHarmi @NeriaKraus Please name me a Palestinian who you think should in this room now in 2025. I'm not judging, I just want to know

[Noah Bloom @nbloom]

@DerekGee7 There is peace today. We can all work to stand up for it holding. A war isn't a sports game; you don't have to choose only one team to root for.

If that was your reason, you still find a way to stay with your team and ride hard and win some races again.