Our Fitness Instructors & Class Leaders

As a fitness, health and wellness enthusiast, Nadine very much believes in the many positive benefits of leading a healthy active lifestyle. Her passion for health and fitness comes from participating and leading in a wide variety of sports and fitness activities and courses all throughout her life.

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In her youth, she played competitive soccer for over 15 years. In her adult years, she acquired her Senior Community Coach & NCAA level 1 coaching certificates and coached competitive youth soccer for over 10 years with Kanata & West Ottawa Soccer.   When her soccer days had to come to an end due to knee injury, Nadine needed to find a new fitness passion that would help keep her fit but not impact or risk of re-injuring her knee joints. This is when she met Wendi Paterson and was introduced to nordic walking and hasn’t looked back!

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Nadine’s professional background and career was in marketing, business development, fundraising and event project management.  In 2012, she joined Nordic WalkFit's Leadership Team and is now the Managing Partner and co-owner.

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Nadine can always be found enjoying the great outdoors with her friends, family and dogs, or volunteering and participating in fundraising events to benefit healthcare causes to inspire and motivate others towards better physical and mental health.  She loves cycling, hiking, snowshoeing, fitness training, swimming and  walking her dogs!

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Nadine also leads live virtual fitness classes from her home fitness studio, and is a regular practitioner of yoga, pilates, resistance training and essentrics classical stretching.  She is always reading and studying proven and effective forms of exercise and nutrition for healthy balanced and active living.

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Certifications include:

• Urban Poling Instructor Certification Level 1 & 2, Master Trainer

• CanFit Pro Certified Personal Trainer

• First Aid and CPR/AED Certified

• NCAA Coaching Certification

• Concordia University, Bachelor of Commerce

• Cornell University - Nutrition & Healthy Living Certificate

Has her BPE (Hon) from the University of Ottawa and her MA PE from the University of Western Ontario. Other professional experience includes internship with the Department of National Defense where she did fitness testing, prescribed exercise programs to military personnel and worked on the BMI project.

Currently she is juggling schedules; working part-time at physiotherapy clinics in Kanata, helping to lead snowshoe and Nordic Walkfit classes.

Ardeth first attended an urban poling/nordic walking clinic with a friend back in 2009 and was hooked right away! The Nordic walking groups provide her with the perfect fusion of outdoor fitness pursuits.

Other activities she enjoys playing outdoors are cross-country skiing and cycling.

Certifications include:

• Urban Poling Instructor Certification Level 1 and 2

• Urban Poling Course for Rehabilitation and Wellness Professionals

• Canfit Pro Certified Personal Trainer

• First Aid, CPR/AED

Convinced by a friend to join Nordic WalkFit seven years ago, Sara found a workout that suited her perfectly – a great fitness workout, different locations, fresh air and a great group of people to do it with. She has always enjoyed being outdoors – she was a member of the Camp Fortune Cross Country Ski Patrol, loves camping, kayaking, and snowshoeing.

Currently runs her own Interior Decorating company, and is the President of the North Gower Recreation Association, whose mandate is to promote healthy lifestyles. She has been involved with Girl Guides of Canada for 20 years. As a Guide Leader, she tries to promote healthy lifestyles and activity taking the girls hiking to Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon, climbing mountains in British Columbia, canoeing down the Ottawa River and hiking in PEI.

Certifications include:

• Urban Poling Instructor Certification Level 1 & 2

• First Aid, CPR/AED

Tracy has been involved in fitness activities for many years.  She graduated with a degree in Physical Education from Western University and then completed her Bachelor of Education with a specialty in PE.  Her interest in fitness and exercise led  her to become a qualified fitness instructor.

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In 2017, she trained for and completed the Ottawa 1/2 marathon.  When she retired from teaching in 2018, she discovered Nordic WalkFit and was hooked from the start.  

In 2020, she completed the Urban Pole Instructor Certification course and joined Nordic WalkFit's Instructor Leadership Team.

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Tracy enjoys sharing her enthusiasm for nordic walking (and snowshoeing) as daily exercise and the importance of staying physically active as we age.

Certifications include:

• Urban Poling Instructor Certification Level 1 & 2  

• First Aid, CPR/AED certified

• Bachelor of Education, specialty in Physical Education

Several years ago, Debbie had a chance to connect with a friend who was doing Nordic WalkFit snowshoeing and decided to give it a try.  She had found her winter sport!  After that, she was on-board for all seasons.  Debbie completed her training and joined Nordic WalkFit as a leader in 2020.  She has always been active; a keen dancer since childhood, she has studied many forms of dance including ballet, modern, jazz, tap, flamenco, belly dancing, ballroom, and step dance.  She is still actively taking dance classes on a weekly basis.  She also developed a keen interest in Pilates and became a certified mat and apparatus instructor and worked for about 7 years in a local studio.  A retired IT professional, she has always promoted exercise as a way to overcome the stress of a desk job, especially when mixed with fresh air!  She loves meeting people through the NWF groups and spending time with them outside. 

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Certifications include:

• Urban Poling Instructor, Level 1 & 2

• First Aid, CPR/AED 

• Bachelor of Science, Math and Computer Science

• Pilates Mat Instructor

• Pilates Apparatus Instructor

• Biomechanics, Anatomy, Sports Injury

• Peer Leader and Mentor to new Leaders in the Women@Heart program (a peer support group for women with heart disease at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute)

 

 

 

 

 

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