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January 2026 Run-Down

  • Writer: Tammy Williams
    Tammy Williams
  • 27 minutes ago
  • 4 min read

It's been a cold one but that hasn't stopped our club members from training, racing, volunteering, and generally making the best of what the weather has to offer.



In This Issue

Living Locally Fair


If you want to get all the updates in real-time, follow us on Social Media or sign up for weekly emails.

Join the Russell Run Club Community Facebook Group to see what’s happening with our Members.

Ignite the Night

Congratulations to club members, Shiloh Gillard, Derek Gillard, and their team for putting on a great Ignite the Night Snowshoe race on January 17, 2026 at Upper Canada Village. This was their first time donning the 'race director' title and all reports indicate they did a great job.


Of course the club was out in full force racing and volunteering (including our talented photographer Norm Fortin who provided his usual high calibre selection of photos from the event).

The full album of photos is available here:


Congratulations to the following snowshoeing club members:

10km:

Erika Morris 1:18:21

5km:

Dave Sadler 35:52

Dave Lagerwerf 45:13

Karen Telford 45:16

Shirley Masson 47:34

Clair Sadler 54:47

Sarah Poirier 1:02:09 (30-weeks pregnant!)

Mike Walsh 1:03:31

Rachel Doth 1:06:13

And many thanks to the club volunteers:

Jennifer Thompson

Cathleen Bourret

Kathy Falldien

France Girard

Julie Huot-Hébert

Mélisande Carrière

Tara Quesnel-Paul

Crystal MacKinnon

Norm Fortin

Michelle Ledu

Living Locally Fair

The club had another successful day at the Living Locally Fair in Russell on January 17th. The day resulted in newsletter sign-ups as well as new club members and clinic participants. Thanks to Mat and Nicole Blondin as well as Mélisande and Arielle Carrière for being great club representatives at the booth.

Embrun Carnaval Run

Thank you to France Girard for organizing the Carnaval edition of our regular Tuesday night club run. After lighting up Embrun on a short run, the club gathered at Homestead's for post run social.

Manju Braves the Cold

Congratulations to new club member, Manju Sankar, for braving the very cold temperatures on January 25th to complete the 10km at the Richmond Road Races in a time of 1:12:53. While Manju has said that running outdoors in the winter has been a challenge, it seems she has over come it!

2026 Membership Drive

Registration for run club membership has been a huge success!

Thanks to CMS Pottery, handmade Russell Run Club mugs were up for grabs for the first 10 NEW members to register. While 10 new members might seem like a tall order in our little community, all mugs have now been spoken for and new memberships keep rolling in. We have already matched the number of members we had last year so it may be that 2026 will break records.

And the Garmin winners are....


In addition to mugs for our new members, all 2026 run club memberships purchased by January 31st were entered in a draw for one of two Garmin watches.

The winners of the draw were:


Dan Hébert

Kathy Falldien


Congratulations to you both! Thank you to Garmin and the Trans Canada Trail for providing the Garmin watch prizes.

What Was the Russell Run Club Up to This Month?



Here are some successes, challenges and just good vibes:


"Still managing to get out each day…embracing the weather and not worrying about pace etc. just getting out and enjoying instead of sitting around and complaining!

Took the snowshoes out a few times this week…also used spikes… whatever was needed to make it safe and enjoyable.

Beauty 10k snowshoe run last night and heading out this morning for a 10k."

~Erika D..


"Trails, dogs, snowshoes, Dome running and Tempo Thursday - say yes to variety!"

~Clair S.


"Snowshoed yesterday and planning for more today!"

~Maurice B.


"Made it to the dome this am for 12kms. Even though I ran pretty much solo just knowing everyone was there was good motivation."

~Amy V.


"As a new year starts, I'm finding it hard not to have any running plans. Training will not be actual "training", but just to keep moving, and slowly rebuild."

~Sarah M.


"Marathon training will start in March. Still hitting the Peloton bike, weight lifting and went for my first run of 2026 with Yves and puppy yesterday! Still technically recovering (stupid ankle) but feeling strong!!"

~Mélisande C.


"Week 2 of Chase the Sun training complete for Logan and I."

~Tom V.


"I''m celebrating another year, another milestone and another Return to Run clinic - excited to see what this year brings!"

~Cathleen B..

If you want to get all the updates real time, follow us on Social Media or sign up for weekly emails.

Join the Russell Run Club Community Facebook Group to see what’s happening with our Members.

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