What is a Community?

We call our collective selves the Burlington Runners Club. What does that mean? What separates Club members from everyone else? What is it that gives us an identity that we want to be a part of?

What is in a word or phrase that makes a difference? Is it only the words that separate us from the Hamilton Harriers, the London Pacers or the Toronto Longboat clubs? Or, is it something else?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet." 1 Or should I say, "Would a runner from another club smell as funky?"

Burlington

Do the club by-laws restrict our membership to only people that live in the City of Burlington? Nope. Just check out the membership list at the back of the newsletter. While most of our clubbies are from Burlington, a good number come from Hamilton, Oakville, Ancaster, Jerseyville, Waterdown, Milton, Campbellville and Stoney Creek. Throw in the others from further away (Etobicoke, Toronto, London, Howell Michigan, Waynesville North Carolina, Middleburge, Florida) and you have to think that something else other than geography alone is the glue that holds this group together.

Runners

Is it that we have fast runners? As a club, we can boast some of the fastest runners in the area. However, I don't think that is the reason we can credit for the club's success. It has been point of contention that the BRC is no longer a competitive club. However, after reading some of the old newsletters, I have been impressed by the times posted, but more impressed by the efforts and contributions of the entire club.

In short, I doubt that the Burlington Runners ever were a pure speed club. If you wanted speed and competition, there was always the Toronto Olympic club and others. If it's not speed, could it be attributed to the old addage "Birds of a feather flock together"?

Yes, we run. We run as individuals as well as in groups. Some members are faster than others; some are not fast at all. A few have even slowed to the point that an all out sprint pace is a brisk mosey. Does this affect their membership or contribution to the club? No, not at all. Despite age, ability, injury or illness, all contributions are still valued by fellow members and still make a difference in what this club has been, is now and will become.

Club

Definition - Club:
  1. [n] A spot that is open late at night and that provides entertainment (as singers or dancers) as well as dancing and food and drink.
  2. [n] Stout stick that is larger at one end.
  3. [n] A playing card in the minor suit of clubs (having one or more black trefoils on it).
  4. [n] Golf equipment used by a golfer to hit a golf ball
  5. [n] A team of professional baseball players who play and travel together.
  6. [n] A formal association of people with similar interests.
  7. [v] Strike with a club or a bludgeon
  8. [v] Gather and spend time together.
  9. [v] Unite with a common purpose.

Well, right off, we can rule out the first definition. If you've ever been the club awards banquet, you know that most of the attendees are home and in bed before midnight. Lets just say that there are times we'd all like to use #2 or #5 on a fellow clubbie. Professional? Not us. Some of us collect the odd race trinket or award, but no one will be paying their mortgages with their winnings, so professional atheletes we aren't.

However, we gather together as an officially registered, non-profit corporation (#6), to train, travel, race and socialize together (#8 & #9). I think that what this really means is that as runners we hang together and support each other as a part of the local running community. We are a community within a community, if you will. Doubt me? Just ask around. In some circles if you wear BRC colours you become a member of that fast crowd from Burlington. Ask others and we are the runners that know how to have fun and race at the same time (courtesy of our very own Lunatic Fringe). Other runners notice our presence at races and the defections have already begun.

However, we are more than just a club, we are a community that supports each other, the running community at large and the non-running Burlington population as well. Doubt this, then look at the definition of community. I think it defines us much better.

Community

Definition - Community:
  1. [n] (Ecology) a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other
  2. [n] The body of people in a learned occupation.
  3. [n] A group of people living in a particular local area.
  4. [n] A group of people having ethnic or cultural or religious characteristics in common.
  5. [n] A group of nations having common interests.
  6. [n] A district where people live; occupied primarily by private residences
  7. [n] Common ownership.
  8. [n] Agreement as to goals.
  9. [adj] belonging to and maintained by and for the local community.

This community of runners is defined by more than this bi-monthly newsletter, the snazzy club clothes or our social events. They are important to the spirit of the club but not the true essence. The race events the club puts on for the running community is an outward face that we can put on for our running peers, our way of giving back to the larger community of runners, but it's an impersonal face at best.

I think the members define it best. It is their support and celebration of every other members goals and accomplishments that is the core of the club. What defines the BRC is not the soles on the bottom of our feet, but the souls of the members and their contributions to the club and the community we all touch outside the athletic arena.

1 Romeo and Juliet - Act II. - Scene 2.

By Mark G. Collis

Revised: December 24, 2003.