“It’s just incredible to be around the stoke that so many BIPOC folks have for being in the mountains. It’s a privilege to be able to help them overcome some of the barriers and intimidation that people experience.”

Safder Raza is a trail runner originally from Pakistan who calls Vancouver, BC, home these days. He got into trail running after seeing a few trail runners while he was orienteering and since then he has finished on a 50-mile podium! His passion for the outdoors was only overmatched by the passion he has for helping others like himself get outdoors. He does this with a group called “Colour the Trails.” Colour the Trails advocates for inclusive representation in the outdoors.

Safder leads a 12-week trail running course with Colour the Trails throughout the summer. It’s not just about trail running itself, but everything around it, from teaching the 10 essentials to nutrition tips. He loves leading the trail runners but also noted that Colour the Trails is all about the outdoors, not just trail running.

“We also do skiing events that are happening right now that it’s ski season. We do a lot of mountain biking events and hiking, bird watching, and all sorts of things in the outdoors.”

Safder was a lot of fun to chat with and his joy was contagious. I had a lot of fun learning about Colour the Trails and Safder’s love of the outdoors. I think you will too!

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Music by REDproductions from Pixabay.

If you enjoy this podcast, I would really appreciate it if you could like, share, subscribe, or comment! I’m trying to make this the best trail running podcast it can be and I certainly appreciate your time. Thank you all and happy trails :)

Film Festival episodes start next week

Perhaps you noticed, but it’s been a minute since we last posted around here. That’s because we’re busy getting ready for the Vancouver screening of the Trail Running Film Festival! Tuesday, April 18 at the Rio Theatre where the doors will open at 6 pm and the show starts at 7 pm.

Click here for tickets!

Starting next Monday, March 27, we’re gonna start the hype train around here and share some awesome interviews with filmmakers and our amazing sponsors! There is so much fantastic content, we might even be dropping episodes twice a week ;)

Film Festival Special Guest Filsan Abdiaman

We’re so excited to chat with Filsan Abdiaman as our special guest! Filsan started Project Love Run which is “a running collective for all self-identified womxn seeking a space to connect with others and their own minds and bodies”. We can’t wait to learn more at the film festival. The film festival is going to be a great time and I can’t wait to hang out with all of you!

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