About Us
What We Do
The Toronto Penguins are a running club that welcomes runners of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. We are fans of the writing and running philosophy of John “The Penguin” Bingham, who writes the “No Need For Speed” column in Runner’s World magazine. We communicate primarily through our e-mail mailing list. Our motto: “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”®
Who We Are
There are approximately 100 runners on our e-mail distribution list. Most of our members live in Toronto, specifically the Beaches/Danforth area, so that’s where we hold most of our group runs. But our membership extends throughout Ontario and beyond. Most of our members are 30 and older, but we have a couple members in their 20s. Our work backgrounds include IT, recreation, medicine, journalism and law, to name a few. We all enjoy the writing of John “The Penguin” Bingham and we always try to have fun while we’re running.When and Where We Meet
Our meetings fall into two categories: Group Runs and Race Encounters.For the latest details and updates, please visit our group run page. Also, many of our group runs, especially our long weekend runs, do not appear in the official schedule. These are arranged informally through our regular e-mail mailing list and you must be subscribed to the e-mail distribution list to learn about these runs.
Throughout the year, we also organize special group runs such as the January Jazz Run, February’s Flapjack Run and August’s Sayonara Summer Trail Run. They are meant to be different from our regular runs and we always make a special effort to invite new people.
Several times a year we meet at local races. Traditionally, our season-opening races are the Achilles St. Patrick’s Day 5K (Toronto) and the Around The Bay Road Races (Hamilton, Ont.) in late March. Our season-ender is the Santa Shuffle 5K in early December. On the Calendar page of our Web site is a list of the Penguin Brigade’s major events, such as the Penguin World Conference, the Marine Corps Marathon and the New York City Marathon.
How Did The Toronto Penguins Begin?
In 1996, John Bingham, a university music teacher and member of the “Dead Runners Society” virtual training group, started writing about his experiences as a “Penguin” runner. His e-mails developed into the “No Need For Speed” column he writes for Runner’s World today. He also started a small e-mail mailing list for a group who was training for the 1996 Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. He called these runners the “Penguin Brigade.” Today, there are thousands of “Penguins” worldwide. For more info, visit John’s Web site: www.johnbingham.com/In 1999, several Toronto Penguins who were members of the Brigade began meeting informally. They also met at the first Penguin World Conference in Chicago that July. A month later, we named our club “Team Penguin — Toronto.” Today, we call ourselves the “Toronto Penguins Running Club” and our club has grown to include members from across Ontario and beyond.
Joining Us
There are two ways to participate as a club member. And they’re both free!First, you can join us for a group run. Details are on our group run schedule page. Please contact Glenn Gabriel via e-mail (address below) if you plan to join us for the first time.
Second, you can join our e-mail distribution list. Contact Glenn Gabriel via e-mail (address below) and he will add you to list.
The Toronto Penguins list is the place where we exchange e-mails about our running and our lives in general. This list generates less than 100 messages per month. We give new members two weeks to read our messages and get a feel of our group. If you choose to stay with us, we have only one request: Please post a short introduction and running bio to the whole group. (We agreed to this rule because we all knew each other before forming this Yahoo! Group. It’s our way of keeping tabs on who’s here.)
Contact Us
Glenn Gabriel, Club Director
pwc4toronto@yahoo.comNote from Glenn: If you want to talk to me by phone, send me an e-mail with your phone number and the times you’ll be available to chat. If you want to send us snail mail, please contact me via e-mail for instructions.
Read our Penguin FAQ for more info about the Penguin Brigade and Penguins outside Toronto!
Read an article about the Penguins in the Spring 2003 issue of New Outlook, a seniors magazine produced by Sears!
Home About Us Calendar T.O. FAQ Photos Links The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.
— Ecclesiastes 9:11Page last updated: May 31/08
