2016 | Nathalie Boivin

Nathalie Boivin has always been fascinated by health care. As a child, she would indulge reading books on nutrition and active living. When the time came to choose a career, she knew it had to touch health care. Unfortunately, studying in the field of health care often means studying diseases.

It is only in her third and last year of her studies for her Degree in nursing that she saw the light and discovered community health care, health care promotion, educating people in health care and research. It is then that she realized that she wanted to work and help people in their quest for better health, more autonomy and control over their lives.

«Advocating for health care is important to me; it is at the center of my job and my daily living. At work, I put in place a few initia- tives aimed at bringing people to be more active together and to have fun doing it, » she declared. Thus in 2 000, the initiative, On pompe de l'air ... frais!!!, was put in place in collaboration with students of the Degree in nursing program at UMCS-Bathurst.

Around 1988, Nathalie started running more seriously by joining a running club. She ran her best time at a 5 km, 19:30, in the fall of 1989 at a competition in Shearwater, Nova-Scotia. Her best time at a 10 km, 43:01, was registered in Gagetown, NB, in 1991.

Upon her arrival in Bathurst, she joined the Club de Coureurs Chaleur Running Club in order to share the pleasure of running with new friends. She wrote several presentations on nutrition and hydration for runners which are posted on the Club's website.

Nathalie ran her first marathon in 2000. She has run 19 since, 5 of which were Ironman races. She qualified for the Boston Mara- thon several times but only made there twice. Her best marathon time is 3:42.

She became a well known figure at the enduring Demi-marathon de l'Acadie where she discovered a group of friendly runners in it for the fun of running and surpassing their own capabilities. Her best time at this event is 1:34. In 2012, she received a commemorative plaque for having run the race 50 times. In 2003, she discovered the triathlon challenge. She fell in love with it. Since then, she has completed several triathlons, includ- ing the sprint, Olympic, half ironman, EPIC and Ironman distances. From 2010 to 2015, she completed 5 Ironman competitions and 1 EPIC race. Her best time of 11 hours 4 minutes for an Ironman was registered in Montreal, in 2010. Furthermore, she has always been a participant at the Chaleur Triathlon and numerous times at the Two Mile Swim in Tracadie. «I love being active. I love participating in activities organized by the community. I love to work at developing the full potential in people by playing an active role in their health care and their well-being, » she added. In 2012, she received the honor of being Personality of the Year Acadie-Nouvelle Radio-Canada, mainly for her communi- ty involvement in health care and well-being. In 2014, she was awarded the title Étoile communautaire pour la Région Chaleur/ ChaleurCommunity Star.

Nathalie loves to push her limits. It's probably why she took part in the Tour de l'espoir 2015, a 3-day 650 km bike ride. Recently, she completed Défi Népisiguit Challenge, a 2-day 140 km run, bike and canoe race.

Nathalie Boivin wishes to always have within her this passion for health through active and wholesome living.

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