Club Partenaire MØNARC®

Curved poles are arriving in Nordic walking clubs. One member gets equipped, another asks the coach questions, a third wants to try before deciding. This curiosity is an opportunity, provided someone in the club knows how to respond: explain the movement, choose a length, show what the curve changes in the push.

That is exactly what the Club Partenaire MØNARC® label recognises. It identifies clubs able to guide their members on the walking arcs, and it helps those who want to become one.

We designed this programme to work both ways. For MØNARC®, it guarantees that our poles are explained properly where they are used. For clubs, it brings a concrete argument for recruiting and retaining members, starting with pricing conditions their members will find nowhere else.

Two paths to the label

The first path is training.

Your club has at least one MØNARC®-certified coach, meaning an instructor who has completed a training course with Nathalie Gilbert, Nordic walking instructor and creator of teaching content followed by thousands of walkers, or with Jean-Pierre Guilloteau, state-certified mountain leader. These courses cover getting started with the arcs, correcting the movement and integrating curved poles into a club session.

The second path is practice. Around ten pairs of MØNARC® Arcs de Marche® are already in use in your club or among your members. This base shows that real knowledge-sharing already exists in your club: questions already find answers, on the ground, from walker to walker.

One of the two paths is enough. What remains is to share our vision of the discipline: a natural, comfortable, efficient Nordic walking, accessible to everyone, which does not question the technical fundamentals of Nordic walking.

This vision rests on five principles:

• Respect for the natural movement: the motion stays close to the biomechanics of walking, and the design of the Arcs de Marche® supports the arm swing rather than constraining it.
• Propulsion first: thanks to their fully curved shaft, our poles deliver a propulsion effect while keeping a firm grip on the ground, as the tip plants more vertically.
• Comfort and joint protection: reducing the vibrations transmitted to the wrists, elbows and shoulders lets you walk longer with less fatigue.
• An accessible practice: the intuitive handling of the arcs makes it easier to learn the right movement, for beginners and experienced walkers alike.
• An inclusive vision: we support every profile of walker, from people in rehabilitation to competitors, and this commitment extends to our workshops, as our poles are assembled in a French sheltered work establishment (ESAT) supporting inclusive employment.

What the label brings to your club

The most tangible benefit is pricing: a €30 discount per pair of arcs for the club and its members, current or future, along with group prices designed for collective equipment. This benefit works for you: a walker hesitating between practising alone and joining your club finds one more reason to sign up.

The label also makes training easier to access, and not only certification. Nathalie Gilbert and Jean-Pierre Guilloteau grant preferential conditions to Partner Clubs across all their courses: MØNARC® certification courses, technical workshops, mountain trips. Your instructors and your members can benefit, which opens perspectives well beyond certification alone.

Each new Partner Club is also introduced to the MØNARC® community, in France and abroad, joins the list of labelled clubs, and enjoys direct contact with our team for technical questions, trials and equipment projects.

The label concerns you, whatever your role

This programme is aimed at four profiles, and each enters through a different door. We have written a guide for each of them:

• You chair a club: criteria, benefits, process and the back-to-season calendar are detailed in the club president's guide.
• You lead sessions: what the training brings to your sessions, and what certification changes for your club, are explained in our article for coaches.
• You already walk in a club with your arcs: your club may meet a criterion without knowing it, and this article shows you how to check in a single outing.
• You walk alone: what a club brings, and what the new season can change, are covered in Walking alone, walking in a club.

And if you still walk alone

This programme concerns you too. A club means faster progress, a movement corrected before bad habits set in, shared routes and outings that no longer depend on the weather of your motivation. By joining a Partner Club, you also enjoy the label's pricing conditions. One more reason to push the door open.

How to apply

Write to us at enjoy@monarc-nordic.com with your club's name, your town, and the path that concerns you: the name of your MØNARC®-certified coach, or an estimate of the number of pairs of arcs in use among your members. We reply quickly and without formality.

Three frequently asked questions

Our club has neither a trained coach nor a base of arcs. How do we start? Through training: the next session takes place on 10 and 11 October 2026 in Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer, in the Var, and clubs can book places for their coaches. All the information is on our dedicated courses page.

Does the label commit the club to buying? No. It recognises an ability to explain the arcs; it creates no obligation to purchase equipment.

Does the label require exclusivity? No more than that. Every walker chooses their own equipment, and that is exactly as it should be.

For any question: enjoy@monarc-nordic.com