A little bit about who we are...
We are a member of International Frontrunners, an affiliation of LGBTQ+ running and walking clubs that have organized in many of the larger cities around the world. Inspired by Patricia Nell Warren's novel The Front Runner. The first Front Runners club began in San Francisco in 1974, and others quickly began forming in the United States, then in Canada and abroad. Today there are over a hundred Frontrunners clubs around the world.
A brief history of FRTO from one of our founding members
"Gay Toronto" in the 1980s, when we established Frontrunners Toronto out of the Out & Out Club running group, probably would seem like an alien planet when compared to its 2020s successor so no apologies for the way we were. A reading of history reveals the coming-out movement and consequential decriminalization of same-sex relationships emerged at the University of Toronto and reflected the city at that time when the privilege of being able to risk coming-out was largely confined to white males. There were few non-Caucasians in the bars [or baths] while gay men and women hardly ever mixed. Many of the gender identifications on the continuum that now we accept were unimaginable. Moreover, road running and racing also were dominated by white, middle-and upper class males. We explained-away the lack of success in attracting a broader membership to "you can't push a rope and longshoremen don’t jog". The expansion we sought was akin to fishing in the desert. But we did know we should have been doing better.
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Moreover, we were "fast" and admittedly intimidating to many novice runners. Though we were committed to never leaving anyone behind we couldn't help that many new members and especially women would perceive that they were holding us back. As a result, while we never missed a Saturday morning run, even when it was -15° or colder or there was >20cm of fresh snow, we also never grew beyond a core group of about 20 members. It's a delight to witness the club has burst-free of those limits.
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​Attempting to live a positive life means I have few regrets about the way we were; only a commitment that we can always get better. Similar to the Out & Out Club, Frontrunners was one of the first places gay men felt safe using their real names; when the horror of the plague could not be ignored, we partnered with the AIDS Committee of Toronto to stage Runners for Life which was re-incarnated as the Pride and Remembrance Run; we changed our name from Running Wilde after engaging with other Frontrunners at Gay Games III in Vancouver; and we hosted the International Frontrunners Forum. Did I mention we were fast? We also won the premiere relay-event at International Frontrunners hosted meets in Long Beach CA and here at home. Our training-secret was the enduring weekly long up-hill route along MudCreek, past The Brickworks, to St Clair!