Runners of Note
Comedy Duo Lorne Cardinal and Monique Hurteau
When asked if she would consider running another marathon, artist, writer, producer and comedian Monique Hurteau doesn’t skip a beat. “Oh yes, just not in the heat again!”
Diagnosed at age 10 with non-systemic arthritis, Hurteau was told she would most likely be in a wheelchair by 25. Instead, she learned as much as she could about her condition. Through doing this she became a successful personal trainer, was on the Fitness Advisory Council for British Columbia Recreation and Parks Association ( bcrpa), has her mba and holds a Provincial Instructor Diploma, plus she ran both a half-marathon in Jamaica and the Honolulu Marathon. In Hawaii in 2005, Hurteau ran as a part of the Arthritis Society Joints In Motion Team, raising $4,000 for arthritis education and research.
Hurteau enjoys the positive psychological effects of long meditative runs, saying, “they’re like a mini mental health break.” But she also enjoys tempo runs as they satisfy the need for speed her fast-twitch muscle fibres crave.
“What I like most about running is the mental toughness it brings,” says Hurteau, “yet it calms my overactive brain. It’s where some of my artistic ideas are created. I’m grateful my body does this for me.”
Lorne Cardinal, the Gemini, Leo and Canadian Comedy Award nominated and winning actor agrees. Although Cardinal has played many roles on the small and big screens as well as the stage, he is best known as Sgt. Davis Quinton on the Corner Gas television series and movie.
Cardinal is also a director, producer, awards host, and rugby player. In fact, he was the first aboriginal player for the Edmonton and Strathcona Druids and has also played for teams in Kamloops, B.C., Regina and Team Canada’s Canadian Classics. A spokesperson for the Regina’s youth Brush Fire League in 2006, he also got to participate when his work schedule allowed.
Despite a torn meniscus in 2008, Cardinal is still a rugby fan and speaks fondly of a past coach who made running drills and hill repeats a part of his regimen. “All that running gave my teammates and I the power and stamina to keep going strong at the end of our games,” he says of his lifelong love of running. “We played well because of it.”
“All that running gave my teammates and I the power and stamina to keep going strong at the end of our games.”
Still healing and getting stronger, Cardinal takes his dog on the trails and enjoys wind sprints. “I have quite a few years still left in me,” he says, laughing.
Raised in Sucker Creek, Alta., Cardinal ’s fondness and respect for physical activity was fuelled by country living. “Us kids got thrown outside to play a lot,” he jokes. But it did pay off. He discovered his love of running while still in high school. Cardinal also discovered his passion for acting there, too, and became the first aboriginal person to complete the bfa acting program at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. One of his many film credits includes 2013’s If I Had Wings, a Canadian production all about cross-country running.
Cardinal and Hurteau, partners both professionally and in life, enjoy a variety of healthy energy foods. Though they both like a good sandwich, Hurteau prefers jujubes or fruit leather over gels while Cardinal exclaims, “pizza!”
The couple are advocates for health and well-being through their workshops they offer with their company Humour for Health. They are also kept busy participating in various charitable events and their documentary Chasing Lear, which is about the making of the first Canadian all-aboriginal production of Shakespeare’s King Lear on an A-house main stage.