Top 10 Strava Airport Segments
Why sit at a gate scrolling TikTok when you can claim a Strava crown? 👑
Why spend your layover doomscrolling when you could claim a course record in front of hundreds of bewildered fellow travelers?
That is the question explored in a short piece from David Howard in Wired about a Strava segment in Terminal B at Denver International Airport.
Segments are user-created stretches of road or path where folks on Strava can record and compare their times with others on the social fitness network. You can make them anywhere: on your favorite loop, up a steep hill, in a prison, atop oil rigs, or at CIA black sites.
Given that long connection times are common for air travel, it’s perhaps not surprising that there are segments in airports or that the one in Denver has become hotly contested:
“It was called “Gate Change Gnar,” a straightaway sprint of nearly 500 feet past the aforementioned fine-dining options and eight gates. Murphy could see the current record holder had a time of 22 seconds. Respectable, but not blindingly fast.”
Now this particular segment is ok, I guess. But it’s not even 100 meters. Surely, better airport segments exist?
Using Strava’s Heatmap, I searched through the world’s major airports to find the best segments. Wikipedia’s List of busiest airports helped sharpen my focus. And I examined airport maps to get an idea of a segment’s “terrain.”
My rules were simple:
Segments must be on airport grounds and could include sidewalks or safe pathways adjacent to terminals.
Philosophically, eligible segments should require an intentional visit to the airport and ideally a boarding pass.
Perimeter routes around an airport did not count. Nor did segments created from special events when runways were shut down.
Segments were running or walking only. (Don’t ride a bike in an airport, you maniacs.)
Sadly, I discovered most airports outside the United States lack Strava segments. So you won’t see any in the list below.1 But there are many segments in terminals around the USA.
Here are the top ten.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL)
The world’s busiest airport has several segment offerings. To Concourse D (0.78mi) runs beneath the airport’s concourses and has a spicy CR pace. Both the men’s and women’s CRs are under 4:40 pace. Three of the concourses also have segments running their length.
Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX)
Tour de Terminal (0.51mi) starts at a Peet’s Coffee near the American Airlines Admiral Club and runs around to the southwest edge of Terminal 4, not far from a Panera Bread. If you’re thirsty for another segment, refuel with a Charged Lemonade before taking on the heat at the Sky Harbor Rooftop Loop (0.53mi). I can’t imagine what fresh hell it must feel like to race this segment atop the Phoenix airport parking garage.
Denver International (DIA)
Gate Change gnar (0.1mi) is the focus of the Wired piece. But in my humble opinion, Denver Terminal C All The Way is a more spirited segment, given that it runs the entirety of DIA’s Southwest-servicing terminal.
Newark Liberty International (EWR)
EWR Layover Sufferfest (0.45mi) is a hard lap around the hotel at the center of Newark’s airport. Kudos to whoever thought a New Jersey Marriot parking lot would make a decent segment.
John F. Kennedy International (JFK)
On the other side of the New York metro area, you can dash through Security to Gate B47 (0.25mi). If you get on the leaderboard, celebrate at the Shake Shack just a few gates away at B36.
Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
ORD F Gates (going up) (0.23) is the longest segment within O’Hare, but more people have taken a swing at The Real C to B (0.15mi), a short dash between concourses.
Unfortunately, no one has created a segment for the trippy multi-colored tunnel beneath the United concourses, perhaps due to limited GPS connectivity.
Charlotte Douglass (CLT)
E > A Sprint (0.44mi) covers most of the length of the airport with an odd buttonhook mid-segment in the airport’s atrium. This one looks fun and tough given the narrowness of Charlotte’s busy concourses.
Dallas Fort Worth International (DFW)
A39 to A8 (0.66mi) follows Terminal A’s curve for over a half mile and ends just beyond an Einstein Brothers Bagels. Texans must love to carb-load because Lonestar Layoverrr (0.17mi), down in Terminal E, also ends near another Einsteins Bagels.
Los Angeles International (LAX)
Blue🌚 (0.17mi) is a few strides between Terminals 7 and 8. If you’ve got time to re-enter security during a layover, there’s also an intriguing out-and-back segment along the terminal roadway: Dodge the travel cases (1.27mi).
Boston Logan International
Kudos to Strava user Darren Leary who created this segment during a flight delay at Boston Logan. Spanning most of the terminal area, End to end (1.6mi) might be my favorite segment of the bunch.
As of June 2024, no other person besides Leary has completed the segment. Maybe you can take the CR during a layover?
What did I miss? If you discover an interesting Strava segment at an airport, I’d love to know.
Almost all major airports outside the US are without segments, including Charles De Gaulle, Dubai, Madrid, Tokyo, Indira Ghandi, Singapore, and the major airports in China. London Heathrow has a segment of 0.18mi, but being short, unremarkable, and barely contested, it didn’t seem notable. Germany’s airports hold more promise. Frankfurt Airport’s Don’t miss your flight (0.55mi) is a more worthy challenge as the men’s CR is a respectable 5:31 pace.
Please add Frankfurt Main Its the negative benchmark for Europe plus it has a shortcut under the gates, somewhere
Any tips on how to record a walk/run inside an airport? I’ve tried before with my Garmin watch and it just showed up as a walk with no map.