Under Armour Diversity Series: St. Albert, Alta.’s Windbreakers Run Club

Under Armour has teamed up with Canadian Running to produce the Under Armour Diversity Series — an exclusive feature content series designed to highlight and promote individuals and organizations who have demonstrated a commitment to grow the sport of running, support those who are underrepresented and help others. The series features stories and podcasts highlighting these extraordinary Canadians who are making a difference in their communities and on the national running scene.

Can running create a better understanding of a culture? Can spending time in nature help young people connect to communities they otherwise might not be able to access? And can this happen while also learning to run? Jarod Letendre and Vernon Hagen think so. The Windbreakers youth running program was launched in 2024 by Letendre, a St. Albert, Alta., public school teacher, and Hagen, an RCMP officer, both members of the local Métis community. In the first season, club members had a unique combination of events: they trained and ran in various local races and competed in Alberta’s Indigenous Games, while also learning about First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures from St. Albert-area Elders and Knowledge Keepers.

Hagen and Letendre conceived the idea to bring Indigenous youth together to share not just the joy of running, but also Indigenous knowledge. It started small, with just 8 runners. Now, the group has more than 20 serious runners, and, simply through word of mouth, it’s continuing to grow.

The primary challenge is barriers to transportation, Hagen notes, as it is in many Indigenous communities, which can make travel to practice and racing a tough barrier to entry for many who would like to take part.

“Being able to unite the idea of running with Indigenous culture and knowledge transfer was key,” says Letendre. “We wanted to bring in mentors, Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers to give our athletes people in the community that they can see, who can tell their stories, who can engage with them. It’s their connection to culture.” For some of the athletes, Windbreakers also serves as a first connection to their Indigenous culture.

Hagen ran in high school, with some success, racing at provincial championships, and even being scouted by colleges hoping to recruit the speedy student. But dreams of playing hockey kept him from pursuing running, and he took a decade-long hiatus from the sport. But you can’t keep a natural runner down for long, and in 2019, he rediscovered his love for the sport—and wanted to share it.

“I loved the lessons it taught me: running reminds you that you can do hard things, and you can push through all kinds of stuff,” he adds. “Growing up in junior high and having those mentorship days or workshop days where you take different classes and people come in and talk, changed my perception of what opportunities are out there.”

That’s why mentorship was such an important facet of the program. “We know how important it can be, and we want to do it properly,” says Hagen. “We follow protocols: when we ask these Elders to join us, we offer them tobacco, as well as an honorarium. And what we’ve seen is that no matter who is joining us, most of them have a story about how sports, athletics or running has made a positive contribution to their lives. And that’s good for the youth to hear.”

Letendre has a similar connection to running. “For the athletes to hear the positive impact that getting outside and running can have, and how it directly connects to our culture, is so important,” he says. “One of our Knowledge Keepers said that when you’re out there running, you’re connecting with Mother Earth. You’re breathing the same air that the plants and trees are breathing in. You’re all connected. We’ve had Knowledge Keepers talk about the importance of water for all of life. And then, when we’ve had to run in the rain, it changes how the kids see it.”

And of course, the youth are also learning to run. Windbreakers meets twice a week during the season, with a mix of easy running, interval training and hill work. “Some of the training we do is just for fun—we go run down by the river, or things like that,” says Letendre. “We meet, we talk for a little bit, if an Elder or Knowledge Keeper is there, then they’ll share, and then we’ll go do our running and training. At the end of practice, we have all the youth writing in their training journals, and then we have a bit of open gym time, where they can just play some basketball or soccer.

“We definitely have kids that are fast,” he goes on. “You could put them in a race even when they first joined us, and they would do quite well racing against other people. But we definitely have youth who are still benefitting from getting out and spending time training, and yes, pushing themselves in racing.”

Hagen comments on some of the early benefits the kids experience: “One thing we’ve seen is huge improvements in their cardiovascular fitness,” he says. “It’s pretty impressive what happens when they have some type of training. But the camaraderie is what’s been the coolest part. Now, when we are on the bus together, the kids are having fun. When we first started, they were all pretty quiet and nervous. But they’re coming out of their shells with this new confidence. They have a sense of belonging, and I think that’s huge. For kids to have that place where they feel they belong, you’re catching them at a time in life where self-esteem can be such a question mark. For them, everything’s changing and shifting. But now they have this outlet.”

Letendre adds that the training has also had an impact on the kids’ and teens’ mental health. “We have kids who I never saw smile at school, but when they’re out on the trails, they’re grinning,” he says. “You see them find this excitement. That’s one thing we’re trying to foster–the importance of exercise and getting outside, while also being kind to yourself and being part of something bigger.”

“It’s hard not to be friendly with someone that you’re running next to on a regular basis,” Hagen says with a laugh. “And that bond you build carries you forward and pushes you harder. We don’t want the pressure of needing to finish with a certain place or time, but we want them to want to be part of the race. We want to give them a sense of belonging. We want to give them the love for the sport and culture.”

As part of the Under Armour Diversity Series, Under Armour Canada made a $5,000 product donation to the Windbreakers to continue their mission and help others get into running.