Club Scene

Montreal’s Spartans

Club Spartiates cvm Athlétisme is a competitive club of about 90 runners out of the north end of Montreal, the Villaray-Parc-Extension neighbourhood. They are an interesting crew because there are three different groups, t wo focusing on shorter distances, short and long sprints, and one focused on endurance events from 1,500m to road and crosscountry races.

It’s a young group, most of them in college or university, in particular College Vieux-Montréal, and soon they will be accepting high-schoolaged members. They do all kinds of workouts: tempo runs in Jarry Park, track work at Centre Claude-Robillard and weight training at the cÈgep du Vieux-Montréal.

They are a diverse group: runners from different ethnic backgrounds, including runners of Latino, Asian, African and European descent, and many of them are new runners from other sports. “Many of them were football, soccer players or even swimmers,” explains Marcos Gutierrez- Costa, the crew’s coach. “Many of our best runners came from others sports and didn’t even know how to do a basic running drill when they started. They discovered the simple sport of running as adults and they just give it their best.”

And as much as improvement and competition is a focus, the vibe of the group is familial and friendly. The runners from the sprint group will encourage the distance runners and vice versa. Coach Gutierrez-Costa makes sure this supportive environment is clear to all new runners: “We let them know really quick that every member counts and their success is the success of the group. You can be a new guy, not the fastest, but still count on the encouragement of their teammates.”

The season ends with a running gala with trophies for all sorts of categories from rookie of the year to various awards for team spirit. There’s a Christmas party and bbqs in the summer. The team likes to roll together on the weekends when they go out, too. It’s a microcosm of Montreal: a diverse, fun city, with some good, intense athletes.