Every Saturday morning Ward Ventanilla and his Virtuoso team get up before 8 a.m. to run through the trails in Valencia.
Ventanilla is the one responsible for the new Virtuoso training club. As a recent graduate of California State University, Northridge, where he studied kinesiology, he was exposed to the field of physical therapy and rehabilitation, which broadened his perspective in life and furthered his interest in fitness and health, said Ventanilla. He said the idea came to him while he was training for endurance events.
“I started getting bored running the trails just by myself and then I started inviting my friends to come run with me,” said Ventanilla.
Ventanilla was joined by Jharred Oller, Sams Smith, Kieran Tamondong, Nate Bello, Devin Reardon, Jenson Chape, Daniel Deme and Oscar Estrada. The more they ran together, the more they enjoyed it. Ventanilla pitched the idea of starting a training club to his friends and with their support they became the Virtuoso team.
“I started the first run on June 8, 2024, along with two other people, and now we’ve been growing,” said Ventanilla.
Currently, the group has about 80 people, and the number has increased steadily since they began. The group said they want to focus on building a community that stays active, socializes with each other, and helps promote a healthy lifestyle.
“We’re trying to encourage people to go out, get off their phones and stop doom scrolling,” said Ventanilla. “Socialize and ground yourself.”
Every week they meet new people who train at different levels, but the mindset is still the same: to better themselves. Ventanilla said they have pacers to stick with people to accommodate those who train at different levels and to create an inclusive atmosphere.
At the end of each run, the team will make sure to wait for everyone to get back safely to the starting point. As an extra precaution, they will send a couple runners to go through the trail and make sure everyone is accounted for. Once everyone is back and they regroup with one another, they take time to meet everyone and take a group photo.
“I feel like it is more than just waking up on Saturdays and going for a nice run and meeting new people,” said Deme. “I feel like there’s a real culture being built every single weekend the more and more people show up. There’s really something special there.”
Their growing popularity has given them traction to possibly expand by doing more events around the valley. The team said they want to start exploring more trails in Canyon Country and Castaic, start hosting park yoga, and after-run snacks.
Ventanilla said the best place to stay updated on the training club’s events is their Instagram page, virtuosotrainingclub.
