MEET THE TEAM
Liam Walke: Founder and Coach
A lifelong endurance athlete, I started out racing road bikes as a teen before competing as a varsity cross country skier throughout my undergraduate degree. I landed on ultra running in my late 20's, around the time I started to teach skiing. My first 50k trail race was love-at-first-suffering, and I’ve been learning and improving since then, nabbing some podiums and top-fives (and a Fastest Known Time in the Peruvian Andes) at distances from 50k to 110k throughout Europe and the Americas. I continue to coach cross country skiing, and when I’m not running or skiing, you can find me on some sort of a bike!!
My unbridled joy for running and skiing is founded in a deep respect for the process of training properly and healthily - that’s because I’ve made most of the mistakes you could make!
Since 2010 I’ve been teaching and coaching skiing with individuals and groups of all abilities. In 2019 I combined my love of coaching with my passion for running, and voila! Through years of race directing, guiding outdoor expeditions, and coaching youth and masters sport and outdoor programs, nothing is more fulfilling than to connect with people and help them find happiness and success (whatever that means to a given person) on the trail and in the snow! The beautiful thing about both these sports is that nobody is ever done learning: not you or me or Jesse Diggins or Killian Jornet. There’s always more, and I’m here to help you find it!
Track and Road PBs:
5000m - 16:44, Chase the Pace, Ottawa - 2024
10k - 34:46, Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend, Canadian 10k Championships, Ottawa, Canada - 2024
Trail highlights:
3rd • Salomon Tremblant Classic, 20k, Mont Tremblant, Canada - 2024
4th • Ultra Trail Chic Chocs, 61k, Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, Canada - 2021
5th • Black Spur Ultra 108km, British Colombia, Canada - 2018
3rd • Marcahuasi Ultra Trail 90km, Lima, Peru - 2017
Taras Howera: Ski instructor
Taras is a CANSI Level 3 cross country ski instructor.
He has been teaching classic and skate skiing for over 10 years, both at Mooney’s Bay ski school and privately
In the spring Taras can be found cruising the crust on his skate skis through Gatineau Park’s bogs and ponds.
When there’s no snow he spends his time white water kayaking, trekking, and trail running.
Taras is a sour cream connoisseur. He loves to eat pickled herring and makes great varenyky (pirogies)