Revised - The aim, come January, is to have Whitehorse's newest running club, created by David Eikelboom and his wife, Jody, up and going.

The name is not yet registered as a society but it will be called Endurance North Run Club.

“It is an exciting development,” said Eikelboom. “I had been coaching privately since March, and my wife thought, why not expand on it, to create a group atmosphere and build a sense of community and togetherness?

“We thought a lot about how we want to frame it and we put a lot of value in team. Foundationally, that is what we want to do.”

Eikelboom said the goal is for the Endurance North Run Club to slide in and add onto what the other organizations offering running training offer.

“There are roughly three or four groups,” said Eikelboom. “Athletics Yukon has to do that dance between being a governing body and hosting fun runs, and they are focused on broad participation but not like this.”

Eikelboom said Endurance North Run Club will be for athletes whose main, or co-main sport is running.

“We are not an elite group but a committed group,” said Eikelboom. “That’s an important distinction. It is not just for high performers but for those who want to work at running consistently. It is for those who want something structured over a long time to be set up for success.”

Eikelboom said he hopes there is interchange among all the running groups in town.

“It has been a good process of forming relationships with those who have put in time in the sport,” said Eikelboom.

Eikelboom said the aim is to start taking memberships in December, soon after the club is incorporated as a non-profit society. January is the month he hopes to be up and running.

“We are going to offer one quality session, which is high-intensity and intervals, and then a long run each week from January to March,” said Eikelboom. “Then from April to October offer two quality sessions and one long run.”

Eikelboom said this structure wouldn’t be the approach if you are new to running.

“I was told once ‘start to like running’ before training for a race like a marathon,” said Eikelboom. “That is profoundly good advice.”

In the first year, Eikelboom said Endurance North Run Club would not be an affiliate club of Athletics Yukon but the goal is to become affiliated so Athletics Yukon would become the club’s governing body.

“It’s good for logistics, club accountability and it strengthens the sport more effectively to be affiliated with Athletics Yukon,” said Eikelboom. “The first year we will operate separately with the intention of becoming affiliated.

“We are taking our policies from Athletics Yukon, like code of conduct and discipline. They are good policies that have been given a lot of thought. It will also make it easier to affiliate with Athletics Yukon.”

With the Outside spring-time running calendar looking sparse at the moment because of the pandemic, Eikelboom said the club will look at holding events, whether big or small.

“There is effort into putting on races,” said Eikelboom. “One thought was putting on a road race in May that would be a certified Boston Marathon qualifier.”

The cost to join the club isn’t nailed down yet but Eikelboom said a ballpark figure would be $50 for a yearly fee, plus a coaching fee on top of that.

If people want to ask questions, Eikelboom said they can email them to endurancenorth.run@gmail.com or find them on Facebook at Endurance North Run Club – he said the Facebook account doesn’t have content on it yet, but people can direct-message the club there. as a society but it will be called Endurance North Run Club.