Our 2015 Golden Shoe Awards: Community pillar – The Parkdale Roadrunners

Story by Colin Smith

There is no formal bidding process to host a Bridge The Gap event. No entry forms, applications or envelopes of cash to slip the selection committee, either. The honour of hosting the global summit of running crews only comes after an invite from one of the movement’s two co-founding crews: London’s Run Dem Crew or NYC’s Bridge Runners. When Parkdale Roadrunners received the invitation to host Bridge The Gap Toronto during the 2015 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, PDRR co-founders Mike Krupica and Steven Artemiw understood all that came along with it: respect, responsibility and an opportunity to share PDRR’s hometown pride and vibe with nearly 300 international visitors and more than 25,000 people running the Waterfront Marathon.

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When Krupica and Artemiw founded Parkdale Roadrunners in 2010, they were just two guys trying to improve their health – both mental and physical – after years in Toronto’s party scene. It was a bit of a joke, really. They couldn’t have known then that what they were starting would breathe new life into Toronto’s running community. As one of the first running crews in Canada, Parkdale Roadrunners brought an entirely fresh attitude, style and substance to the sport – not to mention an epic cheer squad with an arsenal of confetti cannons. They inspired others in Toronto and across Canada to join the Bridge The Gap movement by starting their own crews.

It makes complete sense that the first Bridge The Gap on Canadian soil was like a community block party and family reunion blended together. Krupica, Artemiw and Preety Mudhar, who leads the weekly PDRR ladies run, planned the entire event and involved members of the crew in running it. Thirty different running crews eating, drinking, dancing, laughing and singing together. Oh, and running together. The race itself, as important as it was, seemed almost secondary, like a bonus.

Krupica, Artemiw and Mudhar have all experienced firsthand how running can change lives for the better. As leaders of Parkdale Roadrunners their goal isn’t to make better runners; it’s to make better people.

With every Tuesday night run they’ve organized over the past five years, they have humbly grown a community that continues to push members to reach their potential as runners and as people. As one Parkdale Roadrunner said after btgyyz: “I can do more than I ever thought I could. Because I have all these other people beside me.”