Club Spotlight: Phantom Farms Brewery Flyers
Tell us about your club!
Club captain Kim Chula-Maguire started the club late in 2020 when people were desperate for social interaction due to the restrictions of the pandemic. The vision was to provide an inclusive running club with a dual mission of fun and fitness – the fitness part was covered with the running and we gathered at a local brewery after our weekly run for socializing. Soon after we formed, we started to do community outreach events – collecting food for local food pantry, collecting supplies to donate to Dorcas International, and many other charitable events – and thus our tagline evolved to “Fun, Fitness, and Philanthropy.” To this day we continue with all of those facets. We try to do a philanthropic activity at least 4 times/year and we still meet at a local brewery, Phantom Farms Brewing, to socialize after we run.
Who is your club open to?
We are open to everyone! We have some members who walk, others who run marathons; some members run at 12 min/mile pace, some runners regularly place in local road races, both overall and within age groups. We normally run on the road, with occasional excursions to some local trails, and we may have some workouts on a local track this summer.
When and where do you typically meet to run?
We meet every Thursday night at 6 PM in the parking lot of Community Elementary School in Cumberland. From there we run in a local neighborhood that is relatively traffic free, has lights, and is conveniently configured to support logging easy miles and doing structured workouts. The perimeter roads of the neighborhood are in a rectangle that measures approximately 1 mile. There are cross streets creating smaller “blocks”, each of which is approximately 400 meters. So, in the spring we offer a structured speed workout in the neighborhood for those who are interested, and those who aren’t can just run easy loops and still feel like they’re part of the group since they’re looping on the same streets we’re doing the workout.
We also meet on Saturday mornings at 9 AM at Lincoln Woods State Park. Runners can run as many laps of the 2.5 mile loop as they want.
Do you host any other non-running events?
We often joke that our club is a social club that runs sometimes😉. There is almost always a group of people meeting at Phantom Farms Brewing after the Thursday run. We also have club parties approximately 4 times/year – to celebrate our anniversary, certain holidays, etc. Recently we added a monthly “Meet and Greet” – on the second Thursday of every month we run from the brewery. The idea is that people who are interested in joining the club can come and meet some members, go on an easy run with us on the local bike path, and get a sense for our vibe.
Aside from the Grand Prix, are there any other races that your club attends/competes in as a team?
We don’t have a specific calendar of events, but occasionally we pick a race and try to get as many of us as possible to attend.
Does your club offer any coaching or assistance with training plan development?
We don’t have formal coaching, per se, but Kim leans on her experience to educate the runners about the technicalities of running. She tries to give them a rationale for all the workouts she devises so they can become “complete” runners.
Does your club support any philanthropic efforts?
As previously mentioned, we try to do a philanthropic activity at least 4 times a year and specifically support our local food pantry and the non-profit Dorcas International.
If someone is interested in joining your club, what is the best way to reach you?
We have a website where basic info can be found and people can join through our membership form. We are also on Facebook and Instagram (@phantomfarmsbrewing_flyers).
