SportMed RunWalk

Overview

Driven by the mission of "Promoting sport health on the strength of the best people, best practices and best programs in Sport Medicine, Sport Science and Sport Training", it is natural that SportMedBC reflect that in all of its programs. This is particularly true of the SportMed RunWalk programs, which carry the promotion of sport health is at their very core.

Regarded as the best in their class, the SportMed RunWalk programs have been developed by Canada’s leading expertise in Sport Medicine and built on the most advanced applied expertise in Sport Science. The result is a comprehensive, proven approach to Sport Training, spanning everything from injury prevention and injury treatment for beginning runners and walkers to proper shoes and equipment to sport nutrition.

The most recognized application of the SportMed RunWalk programs is SunRun InTraining, the popular thirteen-week training program delivered in conjunction with The Vancouver Sun Run. With more than 50,000 participants each year, the Sun Run is the largest 10K road race in Canada and one of the top three in North America. Each year, approximately 10% of all participants attend Sun Run InTraining clinics held at community centres and other locations throughout Metropolitan Vancouver.

In 2007, SunRun InTraining involved close to 4,800 people (3691 community clinic participants, 99 corporate team participants and 931 volunteer run leaders) at seventy-seven clinics in Metropolitan Vancouver and other BC centres such as Kamloops, Penticton, Squamish, Sechelt and Bowen Island.

SportMedBC has launched Sun Run Nordic Walking Clinics in partnership with Exel. It has also provided heart health screening to hundreds of Sun Run participants through hearts-in-training, a partnership with the Healthy Heart Society of British Columbia. SportMedBC also recently launched Sun Run InTraining in aboriginal communities throughout British Columbia in cooperation with the Honour Your Health Challenge.

SportMed RunWalk programs are now available for other running and walking distances, including Marathon and Half Marathon, where SportMedBC has piloted training clinics in conjunction with the ScotiaBank Half Marathon in Vancouver.

Program History

SportMedBC began its association with The Vancouver Sun Run at the inception of the event, providing medical support at its first running in 1985. After years of development, the Sun Run InTraining Program was launched with the 1996 Sun Run, marking the debut of SportMed RunWalk programs. Built on the principles of injury prevention and treatment upon which SportMedBC was founded, the program provided a safe training blueprint for beginner runners and walkers. It was designed to introduce running and walking to those with little or no previous experience training for distances of 5K or 10K. It has since evolved to appeal to a wide range of runners and walkers, offering both Learn to Run programs and Learn to Run Faster programs.

Within two years, SportMedBC had published "The Beginning Runners Handbook”, which by the turn of the new millennium was regarded internationally as the best training resource for beginning runners and walkers in the world. It is now in its third printing, with the third edition being published in 2005.

"The Beginning Runners Journal" was first published in 2002. In March of 2006, SportMedBC published Marathons and Half Marathons: The Beginning Runner’s Guide, the same year it launched half-marathon clinics in the lead up to the Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon.

InTraining Online was first offered in 2006, providing training programs and coaching advice for those preparing for 10K through half and full marathons. The same year, SportMedBC was awarded the British Columbia Medical Association’s Excellence in Health Promotion citation.

Responding to the increased demand for introductory and training programs for walkers of all ages, "Walking for Fitness" was published in January of 2007 and the Nordic Walking training program was launched in conjunction with the 2007 Vancouver Sun Run.

Resources

The Beginning Runners Handbook
The Beginning Runners Journal
Marathons and Half-Marathons: The Beginning Runners Guide