Seventy kilometers a week: How a hamster named Molly became a Strava sensation

Strava's new hamster sensation

According to НВ — Техно: Posted: August 18, 09:00

Molly, a ten-month-old hamster from Utrecht, has become an unlikely sports celebrity online. Each week she covers roughly 70 kilometers in her running wheel, thanks to a setup built by her owner, Thijs de Bak. He attached a Hall sensor and a microcontroller to the wheel to count every rotation, and the resulting data is automatically uploaded to a dedicated Strava page. For those unfamiliar, Strava is a popular app used by athletes to log and compare workouts, so a hamster appearing on the platform is quite unusual.

Fans and milestones

Molly's following has grown to more than 10,000 people, and her achievements include a record 11.15 kilometers in a single night. During these overnight runs she can reach speeds of up to 5 kilometers per hour, something that continues to impress her fans. De Bak, who is a runner himself, says the gap in attention is striking:

'I spent six months training for a marathon and got about 40 likes; Molly gets a thousand likes for every workout.' Thijs de Bak

Scientific research supports the idea that rodents have an innate need to move. In laboratory experiments, they have been observed covering between 6 and 11 kilometers per night, and wild mice also make active use of wheels placed in forests by biologists. De Bak has given Molly a comfortable home with a spacious cage, deep bedding for digging tunnels, and hidden food to encourage natural behavior.

In his view, tracking the activity metrics of small pets can help owners better understand how their animals are feeling. By doing this, he is not only giving his pet a way to exercise but also raising awareness about the importance of physical activity for all animals. Molly's growing popularity points to a broader interest in pet fitness. Projects like this may inspire other owners to pay closer attention to their pets' physical needs and could mark the beginning of a new trend in home pet care, where technology plays a role in monitoring and improving the quality of life for animals.