Perth Frontrunners coming to Pemby Trail Fest

A little party never hurt anyone — and this group is well and truly earning their right for a bit of fun. LGBTQIA+ walking and running club Perth Frontrunners are set to head South for the Pemby Trail Fest this weekend and host a social disco to celebrate the annual event. The group is participating in the Pemby Trail Fest as one of their annual trips down south and bringing 40 of their members to participate in the run. The Perth Frontrunners are a chapter of a global LGBTQI+ running club that originated in San Francisco in the 1970s. Co-president Laurie Butterly said it was important to bring the club to regional areas to show visibility for the local LGBTIQ+ communities. “I think for us, bringing our rainbow to regional areas, we’re visible and I think that’s a really nice part of the club that people can see a LGBTQI running club being a part of the community and we have some regional members who might not be able to come up to Perth all the time, but they are still an important part of our club,” she said. Ms Butterly said the club’s inclusive and social nature attracted many members. “People want to be a part of an inclusive and friendly community,” she said. “Most of our members will come on Saturday mornings and it’s a really lovely vibe and you can have a coffee and a chat afterwards.” Ms Butterly said receiving a grant from the Department of Local Government Sport and Cultural Industries helped this year’s trip to Pemberton significantly. “That government grant was around increasing access to trail running, so a part of this Pemberton trip for us has actually been able to engage a running coach in advance of Pemberton,” she said. “We did some trail running coaching sessions for the club, which was a huge success and people really enjoyed learning more about trail running and we’ve also subsidised the Pemberton trip for them and the disco event as well. “The grant has been a huge help for us in increasing accessibility of trail running to the LGBTQI community and also communities that may not have considered trail running before.” The disco will be held at the Pemberton Sport Clubs from 7pm on Saturday.