Like so many other events, seminars or conventions, the Women’s Running Summit has gone virtual in its third year. While pandemic restrictions have made other such gatherings smaller than usual, Geneviève Lalonde wants everyone to know that they are welcome and invited.
Everyone.
“We see events and it might be elite athletes, or it might be recreational runners, but we don’t usually see everyone together,” Lalonde said. “What I’m looking forward to the most is seeing smiling faces, not just in New Brunswick but from across the country.”
Created in New Brunswick to support women runners at every level of the province, the new virtual environment means women from anywhere, of any age and any level of participation can be a part of a summit that really has one goal: inspiring women to run.
“Whether you’re training for the Olympics or you’re running your first 5K, you’re still setting a goal. It might be kind of hard to believe, but we’re all feeling a lot of the same emotions,” said Lalonde. “If the Summit helps inspire women to run a little more, that’s great.”
The Women’s Running Summit was launched in 2018 with the support of Athletics New Brunswick and Run NB. As one of the few Olympic athletes from the province, Lalonde helped create the event to give back, to offer her experience and mentorship to the runners from her home province.
“I wanted to go back and do what I could,” Lalonde said. “The thing with running is that you could be 14 years old and just be getting started, or you could be 50 and just getting started. Everyone is going through the same things. You’re figuring out your body, you’re setting goals.”
This year’s event starts the evening of November 13, with a video interview with Doug and Diane Clement. With Diane being the first New Brunswicker at the Olympic Games and the first woman to be elected president of Athletics Canada, the Friday night video session will be the perfect kick-off.
The program for Saturday, November is designed to be fun, educational, and interactive with a morning activation, a group virtual run, sessions geared towards goal setting and becoming a community leader, before culminating in a virtual wine and cheese discussion.
Along the way, participants benefit from the guidance of athletes and coaches like Kim Hyacinthe and Kat Drew, Malindi Elmore and Hilary Stellingwerff, Angela Whyte and Kirsten Parker.
With the summit’s first foray into a virtual format, the future of the Women’s Running Summit is bright.
“We always want to get more people involved in an annual celebration of our sport,” Lalonde said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re an elite athlete or a rec athlete. It’s just about bringing everyone together to get inspired.”
Find out more about the Women’s Running Summit at https://www.womenrun.ca/.
