The Alberta Medical Association (AMA) Youth Run Club (YRC) is a partnership program between the AMA and Ever Active Schools (EAS). It is a free, fun and flexible program aimed at increasing physical activity levels in children and youth across Alberta. We provide registered clubs with all of the necessary tools and resources to implement and maintain a successful run club, including: Runner and Coach handbooks; finisher prizes for all participants; free local workshops for coaches; running logs; and more.

The majority of our clubs are school-based with participants ranging in age from grades K-12. Clubs run one to five times per week either before school, at recess, at lunch or after-school. They focus on having fun and encouraging everyone to get moving in whatever way they can. Every club is unique, with some opting for traditional run training programs, others hosting Girls Only (GO!) or GSA programming, and others still hosting Walking Champions clubs.

Ever Active Schools being a leader in Comprehensive School Health in Alberta enables the AMA YRC to connect with school communities that we are already working with; conversely, the AMA YRC helps to build a relationship with school communities that we can then incorporate into other EAS work. The AMA is a great partner for this work as they want physicians, medical students and other medical professionals to be working towards health promotion and supporting physical activity.

The AMA YRC aims to support as many Alberta students in being physically active as possible. The goal is to continue to grow the amount of schools being supported each year by the program. We have seen more and more schools hosting their own fun run events and continue to see great results in the positive impact that the run clubs have on school communities. Our schools see the AMA YRC as easy to implement and a great support to help them get their students active. It has helped students to build relationships, and teachers have reported improvement in behaviours after run club practice.

Join the club to stay in the know and to access all the supports the YRC has to offer!