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NHL safety director Patrick Burke running to help end homophobia in sports

The NHL's director of player safety, Patrick Burke, is running three half-marathons for You Can Play, a non-profit seeking to end homophobia in sports.

You Can Play Patrick Burke
March 28, 2016
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You Can Play Patrick Burke
Patrick Burke after the NYC Half on March 20. Photo: Provided.

Recalling to his days in primary school, Patrick Burke never considered himself much of a runner. So much so that he jokingly recounted a story of when he lived in Vancouver doing everything he could to avoid the one-mile run for gym class.

Now, Burke says, running keeps him sane and focused and acts as a way to carve out time in his busy schedule to disconnect for an hour and go for a run in New York City’s Central Park. He’s also using running for another reason: to fundraise for You Can Play, an organization he co-founded which works to ensure safety and inclusion for all who participate in sports, including LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) athletes, coaches and fans.

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“Running’s only something I took up six or seven years ago,” says Burke. “It started as a way to get fit and now it’s turned into me running races. I used to hate running but I’ve come to love it and now it keeps me sane.”

Burke now serves as the director of player safety with the National Hockey League, one of the four major sports leagues in North America, and is in charge of keeping players safe and enforcing rules of physicality at hockey’s highest level. His father is Calgary Flames president of hockey operations and former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke.

The Bostonian (he spent some of his childhood in Vancouver) now living in New York City is running three half-marathons in three months to raise funds for You Can Play in honour of his brother Brendan. You Can Play was founded in 2012 after Brendan, 21 at the time, was killed in a car crash shortly after he had come out as a gay man while attending Miami University in Ohio. He had been an advocate for tolerance and spoke out against homophobia in all sports.

Burke’s three-race challenge began on March 20 and will continue through until May with the upcoming Spartan Beast race and the Brooklyn Half. He’s no stranger to racing as he ran the Boston Marathon in 2013 with a charity bib but didn’t finish due to the bombings at the finish line.

You Can Play encourages the message, “if you can play, you can play,” meaning that no athlete should have to choose between who they love and what sport they love but rather be judged solely on their on-field or on-ice ability. The organization helps educates athletes, coaches, staff, teams and leagues across North America.

Running is very much a part of the organization’s focus too. You Can Play’s vice president of program development and community relations, Anna Aagenes, was a track athlete at Penn University. The organization also partners with the Edmonton Pride Run.

Burke adds that the fundraiser is very much a “keep the lights on” initiative. From helping cover day-to-day expenses to paying salaries, travel costs and website upkeep, as much as US$15,000 is hoped to be raised through the three-race challenge. “Every dollar matter and every effort counts,” says Burke.

Since the NHL often features night games, Burke is typically at work from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. with varying hours depending on the behaviour of the players. The less eventful the night, the more likely Burke is to have free time to run the following day. When he arrives at the office, he catches up on any previous highlights then watches games throughout the night with a close eye on possible suspendable offences.

With the NYC Half now in the past, Burke will be changing mentalities for the upcoming Spartan Beast race, a 20K, 30-obstacle race in the mud.

“I work with a personal trainer who’s a run coach so my workout routine gets mixed up a bit,” says Burke. “The plan for the three-race challenge was to go for time at the NYC Half [he set a five-minute PB in 1:54:58] while doing the Spartan race is all about survival.”

On what he eats for breakfast, Burke says that “his recent craft has been trying how to cook. My go-to is quinoa and egg muffins and I can just microwave them whenever.” As Burke and other runners know, morning rituals are crucial for race-day success.

More information on his campaign can be found here.

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