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Club History



"Legendary birthplace of the Sophisticated Turtles"


The Turtles were unofficially "hatched" out of the New Westminster YMCA Marathon Clinic in 1980 when a group of these runners adopted the name. Through the '80s the group ran out of various locations, moving to the Burnaby YMCA, Cameron Rec Centre and Bonsor Rec Centre.  Over the years, many people have trained with us for marathons, and to this date, everyone who has completed the training program has finished a marathon! 

Somewhere along the line the Turtles name evolved into the "Sophisticated Buck Naked Turtles" and in 1992 the group began running out of Runners West running store under the leadership of store owner Loren Terichow.    

The group remained here until 1997 when Loren closed shop and moved us to Queen's Park under the wing of the City of New Westminster Parks & Recreation.  With the most recent change of location we have adopted the 'PC' name of "Queen's Park Sophisticated Turtles Running and Social Club".  Loren has since left the group to pursue a more competitive training schedule and we are now under the leadership of long time club member Ed Goodchild.   

Over the years, we have evolved from a marathon training group to a full fledged running club.  These days, the group gets together 3 times a week 52 weeks a year (unless it's Christmas or New Years Eve), and while many members follow training schedules for Vancouver & Victoria Marathons, Vancouver 1/2 and 1st 1/2 Marathons, just as many of us come to join fellow runners in a casual atmosphere.  

We don't have a president, secretaries, or a mission statement but half the fun of running is leaving behind things that sound like your job ;-) 

   

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