Having McFun on a McRun
What started as a way to bring hundreds of solo runners at McGill University together is now connecting Montrealers to running
When I first encountered “McRun,” the McGill student running club, via an online advertisement, I was a little surprised: I coach at McGill and I hadn’t heard of this group. A perusal of their website shows the group is part of the recent run crew movement: a focus on community and running for enjoyment, low cost of entry, and badge-style icons.
I decided to reach out to them and see if they also harboured the (usually unfounded) suspicion towards their local “club” or if they were interested in working together. What I found out surprised me even more.
I met Phillipe Rich, a third-year McGill finance student, at a coffee shop near campus. He explained to me the very organic and independent origins of the McRun group. One of the reasons I hadn’t heard of the group was that they are very new: In the summer of 2015, Rich and his friends Mathilde Carignan, a thirdyear occupational therapy student, and Antoine Demers-Hébert, a third-year mechanical engineering student, were invested in running as a lifestyle, but, he says, “we quickly came to the same realization: we were all running alone. Hundreds of McGill students run, but they all run alone. We realized many McGillians – and Montrealers – want to run with other people, they want to get some fresh air with others, they want to get in shape together. This is why we created McRun. There was a need at McGill for a group of recreational runners that wanted nothing more than to be active, meet like-minded people and make running friends.”
The truth is this is not a new idea. Just ask the “traditional” running clubs; this is pretty much what we do, perhaps at a faster pace, but there is a wide variety of speed in our group. I asked Phil if he had considered McGill Olympic or even heard of us. It turns out, John Lofranco is a contributing editor. He also coaches at McGill Olympic Club in Montreal, and is the head of road racing at Athletics Canada.