A man from Toronto, Duncan McCabe, has captivated social media users worldwide after spending months turning his running routes into a flip animation featuring a dancing stick figure. Using the Strava app to track his runs, McCabe’s creative process involved 121 runs between January and October 2024, during which he meticulously mapped out the animation.
The final result—featuring the stick figure running through the streets of Toronto—has gone viral, amassing 25 million views on X (formerly Twitter) and over 9 million hits on TikTok. “Strava art animation through the streets of Toronto! This took me 121 runs from January to October 2024,” McCabe captioned the video.
Inspired by fellow Strava artists like Lenny Maughan from San Francisco and Mike Scott from Toronto, who made a giant beaver drawing in 2022, McCabe spent six months fine-tuning the animation, which included a creative “hat-tip” nod to a song. His stick figure had to maintain the same size in every frame for the animation to work, which required careful planning and dedication.
The video has been widely praised, with one user commenting, “The amount of effort and planning that goes into this is insane.” Others called it the greatest running-related post they’d ever seen.
This isn’t McCabe’s first foray into running-based art. In 2023, he created animations of various animals across Toronto by running a total of 700 kilometers. His designs included a dinosaur, giraffe, whale, and shark, further solidifying his reputation as a creative force in the running community.
In a similar vein, Terry Rosoman from the UK recently gained attention for creating a massive GPS drawing of a penis across South Wales, running 120 kilometers to raise awareness for men’s mental health.
For more trending stories and global news, check out Globalfinserve.