Best foot forward

Opinion

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This article was published 12/01/2023 (615 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Leading an adult running group is not the same as shepherding middle schoolers through a field trip.

And yet, Caroline Fisher’s nerves are still there.

“I’ve been making lots of cookies and stuff to bring,” she said in early January, sitting in the running shop she co-founded.

Big Sky Run Co.’s launch happened before its shelves filled with shoes and hydration vests, even before a partition wall separating the storefront from the back went up.

It happened the first Saturday of January with a group of Manitobans, a meet-up at 194 Taché Ave. and a four-kilometre run through Norwood Flats.

“It’s always been important for us, the social aspect of running,” said Josh Markham, Fisher’s husband and co-owner of Big Sky Run Co.

The couple, plus partners Erick Oland and Kent Robinson, plan to officially open their St. Boniface shop March 1. Before then, they’re hosting a Saturday morning run club.

“We just wanted to find a way to… give back to the community,” Fisher, 35, said.

The pandemic has seemingly brought a “renaissance” to the sport, she added — some people turned to running while stuck at home.

Though the shop hasn’t opened yet, Fisher and Markham are dreaming of workshops they can host, on topics such as how to commute via running and how to run in the winter.

“There is space in Winnipeg for another running store,” Fisher noted.

The four co-owners’ lives overlapped at a similar shop — City Park Runners in St. James.

Fisher and Markham, who grew close while running together in Wolseley, joined the west Winnipeg store’s running group nearly a decade ago.

Oland, 62, headed City Park Runners. He started the company in 2006.

“I struggled for years,” he said. “I learned a lot of lessons the hard way.”

He had bad purchases — items that stayed on the rack far too long — and determined it necessary to keep a pulse on trends in the running community.

“My role at (Big Sky Run Co.) is going to be, hopefully, advice… (to not) make the same mistakes I did years ago,” Oland said.

It wasn’t all hardship: Oland grew his business, staffed six to seven employees at a time, and built relationships with customers.

“He took a special interest to the customers that walked in through the door,” said Krystee Van Den Bosch, a customer-turned-former-manager at City Park.

The care for clients — taking interest in their lives, ensuring shoes fit properly — trickled from Oland to his staff, Van Den Bosch said.

“People buy from businesses where they like the people running them,” she said. “It wasn’t just a transaction, it wasn’t just retail.”

Fisher also transitioned from customer to staff member. There, she grew closer to Robinson; he fitted shoes at the store.

Life went on: Fisher became a teacher but stopped to raise her two children. Oland sold his business in 2021 and moved to Gatineau, Que. to be with his partner.

“We always think of ideas,” Fisher said, looking at Markham, 36, in Big Sky Run Co.

The pair began seriously discussing their venture last summer, though they’d pondered it for months before. They met with Oland, and a partnership formed. The crew brought Robinson into the fold.

“It’s not easy getting going as a new business if you have no connections, and frankly, they don’t have… experience,” Oland said.

He’s been working from his office in Ottawa on supplier relationships. New Balance, Altra and Brooks products will line the shop’s walls.

Fisher and Robinson will staff the St. Boniface store.

“It’s like a running counselling session,” Fisher said. “People are sometimes coming to you in a… time of vulnerability, and they don’t necessarily feel comfortable coming into a specialty store.”

Some are medical workers on their feet all day, needing supportive shoes, she said. Others are first-time runners.

Markham, who works an unrelated full-time job, will help in the background. Big Sky Run Co. hopes to stock sustainable products, he noted.

Andrea Richardson was preparing for “the best date you could ever imagine” on 2023’s inaugural Saturday: a three-hour run, ending with Big Sky Run Co.’s group trek, then massages and sauna time with her partner.

“It’s just good for the community,” Richardson said of Big Sky. “It’s always nice to have more options.”

The business will be a sponsorship go-to for races, she added.

Big Sky Run Co. plans to sponsor Suffer on Centennial, a trail race in the Whiteshell, and future events, Fisher said. The group has mapped out more routes, including urban trail treks, for its running club.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com