{"id":10521,"date":"2026-04-19T16:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/10521\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T16:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:05:07","slug":"winnipegs-city-park-runners-keeps-the-passion-for-running-alive-year-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/10521\/","title":{"rendered":"Winnipeg’s City Park Runners keeps the passion for running alive year-round"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local, independent running stores are the backbone of Canada\u2019s running community. From product knowledge to community involvement, our local run shops shape running culture across the country. Together, ASICS Canada and Canadian Running are going from coast to coast, exploring Canada\u2019s top running shops and bringing you along for the ride.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo: Courtesy of City Park Runners<\/p>\n

City Park Runners<\/a> was the first independent run shop in Winnipeg, and 20 years later, they\u2019re still going\u2014in the same building where they started, right across from what used to be called City Park. The current owner, Jonathan Torchia, bought out the original owner a few years ago, but the former paramedic was a running enthusiast organizing groups and runs in the city long before he made the shift to retail.<\/p>\n

2021 was a weird year to enter the retail space: Covid restrictions were implemented and loosened, and, while the run scene was booming in Canada, retailers struggled to meet demand while not being allowed to welcome customers into their stores. That didn\u2019t stop Torchia, though. When the shop owner declared he was ready to sell, Torchia was ready to buy. \u201cI was in need of a big career change,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d been heavily involved in the running community as a race director for a fairly large race, helping at run clubs and coaching. All of the stuff I was enjoying was running-related, so I jumped at the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo: Courtesy of City Park Runners<\/p>\n

Many run shop owners are longtime runners. Torchia isn\u2019t new to running, but he does consider himself a later-in-life runner. \u201cI wasn\u2019t born into running,\u201d he says. \u201cI wasn\u2019t a naturally gifted athlete. I was more likely to skip out on the endurance running gym class because I just didn\u2019t like to run. I was a big, muscle-y, butterball kind of guy, and I wanted nothing to do with running. But then my very amateur football career ended after high school, and I realized I couldn\u2019t just be that big guy. I had to change my lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 20, he reluctantly got on the treadmill at the local YMCA and gritted it out. At first, it was about getting through one mile. Then, 20 minutes. It built from there, and suddenly, he was on the start line of a half-marathon, where he admits he made every mistake you\u2019d expect a new runner to make. That day, he officially fell in love with the sport. \u201cMy life just became all about the run,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo: Courtesy of City Park Runners<\/p>\n

Marketing and event planning manager Olivier Robidoux had a slightly different entry to the sport, coming to running after a stint as an elite mountain biker. \u201cTowards the end of my cycling, I was in a weird place in my life, and I thought, let\u2019s try something different,\u201d he says. For him, that was training for a marathon. Like Torchia, he fell in love.<\/p>\n

For both of them, the Winnipeg running community played a big role in growing their passion for the sport. \u201cWinnipeg has one of the best run communities, in my mind,\u201d says Torchia. \u201cIt shows up. It\u2019s super supportive, super community-driven, really inclusive.\u201d Any group run in the city can easily bring out more than 100 runners, and the shop\u2019s club\u2014the City Park Runners Friends Run Run Club<\/a>\u2014is no different.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community is always rallying behind one another, helping each other out and pushing one another,\u201d says Torchia. \u201cThe one thing we pride ourselves on is being inclusive. We don\u2019t want elitists, and we don\u2019t want people with egos. We just want everyone to walk in the door and feel welcome and wanted and connected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one\u2019s here just to run fast,\u201d adds Robidoux. \u201cI think people show up to spend time with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo: Courtesy of City Park Runners<\/p>\n

And of course, the elephant in the room: Winnipeg in winter is cold. How do run clubs run when it\u2019s -30 C?? If you\u2019re from the Prairies, you likely know the answer: you add a few more layers, and you show up anyway. \u201cPeople don\u2019t stop running,\u201d says Robidoux. \u201cFor the two weekly runs that our club does out of the shop, we\u2019ll have 45 runners coming every single week. The city doesn\u2019t hibernate during the winter, they just keep doing all those activities. Yes, it\u2019s cold. Yes, we are all sick of it by now. But people still stay involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to weekly runs, the shop hosts events. Their Run Your Lungs Out fundraiser, where they raise funds for Cancer Care Manitoba, is coming up; it involves eight treadmills run around the clock for 24 hours, and last year they raised $125,000. \u201cI feel lucky to be able to plan these events with my staff in the community,\u201d says Torchia. \u201cEvery year, we host this event called Bagels and Beers and 5K Cheers. It\u2019s important to me that we\u2019re putting on events and being a part of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

As with any local running store trying to make it in 2026, community is key. \u201cOf course, we have to sell shoes and apparel and nutrition to pay the staff and turn the lights on. But more important, we\u2019re woven into the community,\u201d says Torchia. \u201cOur slogan is \u2018in the community, for the community, a part of the community.\u2019 We want every single guest that comes through our door to have a positive experience, whether they buy something or not. We want it to be so good that they\u2019re going to talk about it. And that\u2019s one thing that happens repeatedly on the daily, in our shop. We greet everyone and ask, \u2018Oh, have you been here before?\u2019 If someone is new, they almost always tell us that a friend recommended they come in. And that\u2019s always a really nice feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local, independent running stores are the backbone of Canada\u2019s running community. From product knowledge to community involvement, our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[5792,5793,5794,967,5795,5796,84,5797],"class_list":{"0":"post-10521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-winnipeg","8":"tag-asics","9":"tag-asicsstore","10":"tag-city-park-runners","11":"tag-featured","12":"tag-run-specialty-store","13":"tag-running-shoes","14":"tag-winnipeg","15":"tag-winnipeg-running-store"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}