Kayla, founder of OCRC (Ottawa City Run Club) and co-founder of Élan has a few ideas of where you should run, eat, and connect in and around the Ottawa/Gatineau region.

Running Routes

Anything along the canal. I love a full downtown loop to Hogs Back.

Coffee

Big fan of Little Victories and Driphouse but I don’t frequent them, as I live on the Gatineau side. I often find myself at Cafe British in Aylmer, as it’s close to home. I’m going to be honest, I fuck with Starbucks a lot too.

My go to order at all of these places is either an iced matcha, iced vanilla latte, or a london fog.

Where to Eat

If you’re looking for a great place to dine out in Ottawa, highly recommend Supply and Demand for pasta, Heartbreakers for pizza, and 5eBaron in Aylmer for beer.

Community

Run Clubs & Groups
I’m biased, but OCRC (every Tuesday at 7:30pm from Beyond the Pale, City Centre) is a fun time. It’s a little chaotic, because it’s become so large, but there is something fancy about the energy of a crowd that large. OCRC does Summer Fridays in the summer starting at 7:30am. These run from end of May - end of October. These runs offer a smaller group and a simple route.

Additionally, SlowPokes is ran by a solid group and meets at a great location. They run on Sat mornings.

Community Spaces
Anything Randy from SlowFastSlow does, is the purest form of run community. He gathers runners from all communities and brings them together for unique, unsanctioned events.

Local Race

Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend. Hands down.

What Makes Ottawa Special

I think the running scene in Ottawa is very community based. It’s very supportive and there is a lot of cross-pollination that happens. Lots of clubs and crews collaborate on events.

What the Community Needs More Of

Events/event spaces. I’d love to see more tracks available too.