About Us

Whynot Run Club was founded in May 2024. Built within the Wilfrid Laurier University and University of Waterloo campuses, the team accumulated its first hundred members by walking around campuses and local gyms handing out business cards to random students and passerby's.

Slowing growing the first group of runners Whynot held it’s first group run in early June, with about 8 original runners. Growing through word of mouth and Instagram marketing we hosted two weekly runs through the summer and fall that always ended with sipping on coffee and chatting at Midnight Run Cafe on King St. Quickly partnering with other local run clubs, cafes, fitness studios and Red Bull Canada, we achieved over 1000 members within 3 months of the clubs first run. It was clear there was a strong desire for exercise and socialization within the university communities.

Through our first summer, we held weekly runs that saw more than sixty pretty faces turn up regularly. The city’s largest social runs were put on by us and other local run clubs where we’d buy glowsticks, rent speakers, and blast EDM with over 250 people running through the streets of Waterloo. Whynot has acted as a place of self expression for runners to exercise and socialize as a community in our post-covid society. We found our voice pretty quickly, hosting a fun social experience is what we cared about most (and still do), bringing out speakers on our runs, playing music at an obnoxiously high level but bringing the vibes each and every time, encouraging members to introduce themselves to someone new and form new connections was and is imperative to the Whynot lifestyle we preach. We’ve been a place that people have found community, belonging, built new habits, trained for races and to change their lives both physically and mentally. Over the last year, we’ve pushed to create a culture of people that look at new experiences, be they intimidating, scary or exciting, and say “why not?” instead of “why?”, we’re community first, bold, loud, and inclusive, no matter of who you are or where you come from, your running experience or athletic background. Right now we’re focusing on building our community initiatives through offering accessible fitness classes with pilates or spin, and beginning to develop our first round of quality, athletic and lifestyle clothing that will help our members show their pride for Whynot. We’re committed to continuing to build awareness and exposure for the Kitchener-Waterloo running community through our run club, official races, clothing brand, and charity initiatives. We’re stoked for the future and would like to thank you all for your continued support.