The Athletics Illustrated Panthers is a club for runners of all abilities, ages, locations and interests. The club is located in Victoria, BC. Taking members now, however, the club will formally launch in early 2022.
Why the name Panthers?
Names like “Harriers,” are great and speak of tradition, but are taken. Also, “Track & Field Club,” “Running Club,” “Road Runners” are also taken and very well marketed. Additionally, calling this running club “Panthers” is limitless in scope. Track, field, road, indoor track, fell, orienteering, mountain, trail, ultra-marathon, racewalking, pedestrianism, wheelchair, para, social, training, coaching, managing and more are all available functions in the sport of athletics. Also event management, announcing, and volunteering. The club may manage races in the future — limits are of the imagination.
Panthers run. They may not be known for the distances that they may run at their anaerobic threshold or anything like that, but they can sprint and, as they occupy large territories, Panthers (cougars, painters, mountain lions) cover on foot great tracts of land. Panthers are apex predators. They are, similar to many distance runners, soloists. While other Vancouver Island-based indigenous apex predators like wolves, move in packs, the panther will track down its prey stealthily, on its own. It is an independent animal.
Bears, well a bear’s primary aim is to gain mass amounts of weight, then sleep. That’s not an endurance athlete’s modus operandi. Orcas was an option, however, there is already a club on Vancouver Island named Orcas.
Panthers elicit images of power, speed, strength, character, litheness, athleticism (they can leap across a two-lane road from a sitting position). They are fierce. You do not have to be an elite athlete to join the Panthers, but you may harbour that inner beast to race well within your age group, gender and discipline and at your level.
CONTEST: Race for free on Vancouver Island for one year.
The club
The club will be registered with the provincial governing body of the sport, BC Athletics, soon. The Panthers will need members. It is not required that you race to be a member nor do you have to live on Vancouver Island. The Panthers’ club is seeking people to take part in:
- Racing
- Volunteering
- Fundraising
- Coaching
- Leading club runs
Memberships
There will be several different memberships available. Registration service or shopping cart will be available soon.
- Single
- Family
- Off-island
- Associate (volunteering and being connected for opportunities and deals)
- Sponsorships
Social
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/A_I_Panthers and or https://twitter.com/Athillustrated
- Facebook (soon)
- Instagram: @athletics_illustrated
- Strava: https://www.strava.com/clubs/athleticsillustrated
- e-mail: info@athleticsillustrated.com
More to come. Stay tuned; check back often. If you have questions please direct them to: info@athleticsillustrated.com
