It’s time to lace up your shoes, fill up your water bottle, and head outside to explore some of the Tri-Cities’ best outdoor running trails. Coquitlam alone has 80 municipal parks covering an area of over 2,000 acres! We spoke to our Aalto Townhomes sales team about some of their favourite outdoor running trails. Here is what they had to say:
Carolyn:
“When I was training for my last marathon I really enjoyed running at Rocky Point Park in Port Moody. You can take two trails – one is paved and the other is along the shoreline. The trail is 6 km round trip and the trees provide shade in the summer and shelter in the winter months. When I was doing a longer run I would sometimes loop back and do it twice. After a run you can always stop at the local brewery for a cold one or some ice cream!”
Rebecca:
“I love running on many of the paved multi-purpose pathways throughout the city, and Town Centre Park is one of my favourites. There are 4 different ‘loops’ at Town Centre; the Perimeter Trail, Lafarge lake loop, the Northwest loop and the Stadium loop. These loops combine for a good 8.3km paved trail that keeps you away from all cars and traffic, and you can easily stick to the sidewalks outside of the Perimeter trail to extend to almost 10km (or just jog from Aalto!). It’s great for whatever distance you feel like doing. I really like that there are restrooms, water fountains and ice cream available at the park all year round (well, except the ice cream).”
Sonia:
“My favourite is the Coquitlam Crunch. The Coquitlam Crunch is a steep, urban trail that follows a route under large hydro power lines and offers a great workout. It is 4.5 km round trip with 244 meters in elevation gain. If you don’t have a lot of time for a workout and want to get an intense short one, this is the place. You can walk, run, shuffle and you are getting a good workout on this trail. It’s Coquitlam’s version of the Grouse Grind with no cost of gondolas!
The route starts with a total of 437 stairs. Many people (including myself) will sometimes just go up and down the stairs 4 to 5 times. This will take you approximately 1 hour depending on your fitness level. Walking up the stairs once and to the top of the crunch and back down takes approximately 1 hour.
Great for all fitness levels, you can make it as hard or easy as you want. I often pick up the pace and do the crunch for my workout but it’s also something that can be done at a slower pace with kids or a way to catch up with a friend.”
