It started, like all great adventures, with a simple idea.

In 1977, then-Vancouver radio host Terry Moore put out the word during his show that anyone interested in learning to jog should join him several times each week for exercises and training.

A handful of men and women came out that first day - including Burnaby residents Kay Bruce, Betty Forbes, Marion McKeown and Ruth Moulds - to become founding members of what became known as "Moore's Milers."

The running craze of the '80s hadn't quite hit yet and, unlike today, gear wasn't easy to come by at the local shopping mall.

"Running was not popular in those years," recalls McKeown. "Terry said the only thing we needed was good shoes and old clothes."

"We had to get men's shoes," adds Forbes with a laugh.

But the "Milers" were on to something: the group continued to grow in popularity, gathering several times a week at Swangard Stadium.

Fellow Burnaby residents Audrey Heidema, Grace McFadyen, Betty Radelet and Jean Sampson joined soon after the inaugural gatherings.

Eventually, Moore moved to a radio station in another city, but the group he started carried on, eventually morphing into an all-woman walking and exercise club that was eventually dubbed ALIVE.

The group's name stands for "All Ladies Interested in Vitality and Energy," and is befitting what is now a 36-strong club that meets three times each week, rain or shine, 52 weeks a year.

The oldest members are now in their 80s and early 90s, according to member Lorraine Brown, and the youngest is "almost 61."

Those earliest members of Moore's Milers - Bruce, Forbes, McKeown, Moulds, Heidema, McFadyen, Radelet and Sampson - are still coming each week, just as they have for more than three decades.

"We always come out - rain, sun, snow," said Moulds. "We've missed very few days - just if we're on a holiday or a few times when the ice and snow was really (bad)."

The group has proved so popular that it has maintained a full roster of 36 members for years - currently there are four women on the waiting list to join.

Ask these early members what it is that keeps them coming, and it's hard to separate one voice from the other as they shout out the benefits they've seen in their own lives: camaraderie, friendship, fresh air, companionship, fun, laughter.

Improved health is a boon, too, but it seems a side benefit to the lifelong friendships that have blossomed between them.

Once a month, they have a special social outing to locations around the Lower Mainland, and after their regular threetime-weekly walks, several of the women gather for coffee.

Sampson, at 91, is the "matriarch" of the group.

She joined in '78 and has been making her way, three times a week, to Central Park ever since.

"Most of us were in our 40s or 50s then - we just found a way to make it work around kids and our jobs," she recalled. "We've been coming out, rain or shine all these years. It's good for you."

Sampson and the others, including coordinators Doreen Irvin, Jean Rutledge and Clara Fedorak, say that the group has been a source of support in tough times, a place to share happy news,

and a source of information for things as simple as good referrals for a doctor or details on a great bargain at a local shop.

Vonnie Hawkes, the group's newest member, says the club is a good "bridge to retirement," allowing her to stay active and create new social connections.

"It's so welcoming, I wasn't nervous the first day at all. It's just a wonderful group."

The club has a bench dedicated to them in Central Park, with a plaque noting they've been gathering since 1977.

As far as the members are concerned, they'll be continuing to gather in 2017, at the 40th anniversary and for many years beyond.

With a waiting list of eager members, there's no shortage of interest or enthusiasm to do just that.

cmyers@burnabynow.com