Club Scene
Village Runners, Arundel, Que.
In 2012, after former B.C. running coach Marlene Seguin relocated to the small township of Arundel in Quebec’s Laurentian mountains, she wanted to share her passion for running with her new neighbours. She found eight runners in the small community 18 kilometres south of Mont-Tremblant, six of whom were beginners. They became the Village Runners, and they were off to a great start. Seguin also had a yoga business, and as it grew, she handed over the reins of the running club to Wendy Allen, who’d been a member since 2013. It has since grown to 70 members.
“I have been a lifelong runner, starting in my teens in cross-country in the U.K., then ran home from every party I went to in my late teens!” says Allen. “I covered many miles. When my kids became more independent I began running again, and when I noticed this small group developing, I was motivated to join.”
“The great sense of community and strong support is what makes the group successful,” Allen adds. “It is also that spirit that inspires me to continue to encourage and motivate people to get out there. Especially as our winters are so brutal, it can take a village to motivate people to run in -15 C.”
During the summer the Village Runners meet at the Pont Prud’homme in Brébeuf, an historic covered bridge that is the oldest in the region, which is 21k from Arundel and 10k from Mont-Tremblant. In the winter season the group runs in Arundel, meeting at the local village café afterwards for some social time. The main communication for the club is via a public Facebook group. Members can share articles and meetup times, post motivational messages and generally encourage one another.
Cathy Bergman, a longtime member, agrees that the tight-knit community is what makes this run club so special. “When I was training for my first marathon a few years back, there were lots of long runs. We would set up meeting points during our training runs. While the crew training for the marathon would run together, other runners from the community would support us in intervals. On the last long training run of 37k there were dozens of runners in and out for the 5k, 10k, back again for another 5k. The fresh legs coming to lend support kept our morale (and our pace) up. As the interval runners finished their set, they would make their way to my house – so when we finished the last long run, there was a house full of runners, and an amazing spread awaiting us all with pancakes and maple syrup, fresh fruit and warm hugs.”
The club name certainly suits this crew, who run for the sheer love of it and support each other without question. Whether you run in a big city, or a quaint village in the Laurentians, we can all agree that no one gets to the finish line alone – running does indeed take a village.
Joanna Kotsopoulos is a writer, editor and running coach with Boardwalk RC, a youth running club based in the Beach area of Toronto.