Joan is an elite ultramarathoner and sponsored athlete looking forward to an epic 2015 season. In 2014 alone, he won the Bromont Ultra (160k), the UltimateXC (120k), finished 10th at the competitive TransMartinique (136k) and, last but not least, finished 3rd at the famed Vermont 100-Mile, clocking the 37th best 100-Mile time in North America on the way.

His international goals for 2015 are: running the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) and the Diagonale des Fous (Réunion Island), two of the most iconic trail races in the world.

Other than being an ultra-marathons runner, this unique athlete is a father of 3 young children and works full time as a developer in Montreal city. Joan never stops all year long, he runs to and from work everyday and this in cold or hot Canadian weather. His run-commuting is also his training and has been featured in a short film which went viral last year.

Deborah, a passionate entrepreneur, founder and editor of Mots d’Elles was the host of this unforgettable day of conferences. She first began the interview with a flash back of the very beginning of Joan collaboration with MEC  and how he became ambassador of this beautiful sports brand. In the Joan case,  it all began by chance. People started to talk about Joan and his performances, which allowed him to be invited to give a lecture at MEC. After further invitations to give lectures, eventually his name was offered to be a MEC Ambassador and it all came pretty naturally. Despite the fears of too many constraints , this new ambassadorial position allows Joan to have more visibility  to connect  with his community and to reach a new audience.Only benefits!

Joan started bloguing in 2012 and is currently present on all social networks. On Instagram, he shares photos of his adventures with his community and also on Facebook and Twitter. Joan, originally french, doesn’t think he would be where he is now if he had decided to stay in France.  The runner community is wider here, without being too large. Indeed, it allows him to interact more effectively with this beautiful community.

In a year, Joan want to fully devote himself to his passion: running and will then be able to be a full-time ambassador for MEC. In final, the message we should all remember from this conference is that our efforts are always rewarded.