The BlackRun Club is lacing up their running shoes to take on another year of making running more accessible to diverse communities.
Open to anyone in Ottawa, the BlackRun Club is back for its second school year, meeting weekly at the University of Ottawa campus.
Founders Ange Dilan and Edikan Ekong met through a shared chaplain at their high school. Dilan says he remembers the chaplain as “one of the fittest guys” he knew, so he was surprised when the chaplain suffered a heart attack.
“That led me to looking into cardiovascular diseases and realizing that as Black people in North America, we can be more prone to that,” Dilan said.
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that rates of death from cardiovascular problems among Black Americans are among the highest in the world.
Dilan said this research sparked his idea to start up a run club as a way to stay fit.
Dilan and Ekong became co-founders to fill a gap they noticed in Ottawa’s running scene.
“There wasn’t really anything that was truly beginner friendly and that was also diverse,” Ekong said.
Ekong said they used to be happy to get seven people for their weekly Saturday morning runs. But the club has grown fast, with 52 people showing up one weekend in September.
“It’s been very wholesome to see,” Ekong said. “I can’t stop smiling.”
The club includes runners of all experience levels, from absolute beginners to an Ottawa RedBlacks player who turned up one weekend.
“It’s Saturday, it’s 9 a.m., people who were working want to stay home and sleep, but you see people come and they’re happy to be here,” Dilan said.
The club also brings its members to community events like trail races.
For club member Darrell Nyakaana, group running is a game-changer not just for pacing but for motivation, too.
“If I missed it once, I’d have to hold myself accountable to do cardio at home,” said Nyakaana, a uOttawa computer engineering student.
Dilan said as the club plans for more events down the road, the most important part of the club is the group it’s brought together.
“Community can change everything.”
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Featured image provided by Ange Dilan.
