TRAIL RUNNING

Free your self from the roads and engage in a richer and more enduring experience.  Explore different trails in the park every week.  We offer group and route options depending upon speed.

OUR MOTIVATION AND ETHOS

We are dedicated to creating significant opportunities for healthy outdoor lifestyle, promoting natural fitness, physical literacy and inspiring long-term athlete development through direct grass-roots community involvement and global campaigns for gender and age equality in sport, multilingual, multiculturalism, accessibility, science education, leadership and coaching. 

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OBJECTIVES

1. Support personal goals in health and fitness;

2. Foster long-term athlete development in the context of sport-for-life through participative coaching, imprinting and mentorship.

3. Attract, develop and retain top-talent in high-performance sport; and

4. Kickass.

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING

Cross-country skiers are the best-conditioned athletes on the planet.

Fast track your skills, fitness and performance inclusive and friendly environment. Many participants have personal goals ranging from the improved skills, fitness, weight loss, finishing the Ski Marathons, to elite high-performance racing. The program is open for all levels and abilities, from total beginner to racer. It is the most fun you will have in the snow this year. Our competitive ski team regularly trains with the adult program and helps mentor developing skiers. 

SNOWSHOEING ADVENTURES

Normally the training consists of a variety of Fartlek or varied pace (run/hike) and terrain (slowest folks are moving at a fast hike). Discover a new snowshoe trail every week. Snowshoeing is a bridging sport between running and skiing. It eases the transference of skills from one activity and another while reducing the chance of injury coming off snow to earth. It is also a common ground where runners, cyclists, triathletes and skiers can compete in nearly equal footing.  Prevent injury and build power for your running season. Snowshoeing in the forest is an intimate experience, Instead of running on the roads this winter, let your adventure out!

ABOUT US

The principals of National Fitness Lab - Dave McMahon and Lise Meloche first met on the National Biathlon Team and formed a lasting personal and professional partnership centred around sport. Both Lise and Dave raced World Cup Biathlon and Cross-Country Skiing for Canada.  Lise raced two Olympic games and 200 World Cups; winning 7 medals, including four (4) Golds.  Dave was Canadian National Biathlon Champion, ranked 3rd in the World for summer biathlon, and represented Canada at the World Snowshoe Championships and World Loppet circuit. Dave is a pro-elite winter triathlete and trail runner.  Together, Dave and Lise: wrote the cross-country ski manual; built an independent film production company; produced several award winning films on skiing; launched a skiing channel viewership of two-million subscribers; and mentored thousands of people to ski through natural fitness lab - the largest adult skiing, snowshoeing and trail running program in the country.  They recently released a feature-length IMAX film in theatres called “Oxygen” about outdoor athleticism, empowered by women. Look us up in Who’s Who in Canadian Sport, Volume 3 1999 by Bob Ferguson ISBN 1-894282-00-0.

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HISTORY

Natural fitness lab has been operating as a not-for-profit for over thirty years but our origins date back over a century in the Gatineau Park and the first organized ski programs in the Country. We have a rich history and culture that was inherited from the Ottawa Ski Club and Trail Riders.