Prairie Inn Harriers
It all started one night over a few beers for Canada’s biggest running club
“Hey, Barkeep, do you want to sponsor our running club?” asked Bruce “Gunner” Shaw, while enjoying a satisfying post-long run beverage and burger. “Who is in the club?” asked the bartender and manager of the Prairie Inn Pub. “Us,” Shaw replied, hastily motioning to two other exhausted yet amused runners at his table. They were Alex “Mother” Marshall and Rob Pearson. That was 1978 and those three men became the club known as the Prairie Inn Harriers. There is no prairie-like countryside anywhere near Vancouver Island. The area is rugged, mountainous and heavily treed, providing an ideal training ground for would-be long distance runners.
Fast forward to 2013: the Harriers are the biggest running club in Canada with 841 members. The club has runners of all stripes and abilities, from beginners to top-elites like three-time Olympian Jon Brown, two-time Olympian Bruce Deacon, two-time Olympic medallist Simon Whitfield, 19-time Canadian champion Lucy Smith and Natasha Wodak, who has emerged recently as a top-level runner.
During the past 35 years, while the Harriers have ballooned in size, they have expanded their reach into the community to assist with the organization and management of ten local events, including two races that boast 12,000 participants each, the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon and the Times Colonist 10k – the second largest 10k in Canada. The club also hosts the first race of the very popular Vancouver Island Race Series, the Pioneer 8k, which doubles as the first event of the BC Timex Road Running Series.
The club also hosts the Gunner Shaw Cross-Country Classic, Thetis Lake Relays and the New Year’s Day Memorial 10k. These events provide funds for bursaries and scholarships that are given to the University of Victoria as well as Camosun College. To date, over $265,000 has been donated to community projects, including six Harrier bursaries and scholarships in the names of Gunner Shaw (Athletics), John Thipthorpe (Computer Science), Susan Reid (Civil Engineering), Arthur Taylor ( Track and Field), Rosamund Dashwood (Fine Arts – Dramatic Writing) and Ken Smythe (Cross Country). The Harriers have also donated $10,000 to the Heart and Stroke Foundation on behalf of Dave Reed, a wellloved B.C. runner who died in 2008 at age 54.
Bob Reid is the spiritual patriarch of the club, t reasurer and one of the earliest members, also joining in 1978. Susan Norrington is the current, long-standing president, who gets re-elected each year (13 terms and counting) without much f uss. The club executive includes Gary Duncan, Garfield Saunders, Sara Pape and Lara Wear.
The club offers training opportunities each week: Saturdays are at the traditional meeting area for the club, Thetis Lake Park. Tuesday evening interval sessions take place at various locations throughout Greater Victoria. There are also other groups that meet every day around the city. The two biggest annual club events are the summer barbeque t hat takes place in August and the annual awards ceremony in February.