A Collaboration You Can Taste: GU Announces New Flavor and Partnership With Indigenous Advocacy Group
Rising Hearts is an Indigenous-led organization committed to community building, elevating Native and community voices through movement, and they’re working with GU Energy Labs to launch a new flavor, film, and justice commitments for endurance running.
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For many outdoor enthusiasts, GU Energy Labs has been a reliable source of endurance fuel since 1993. This week, GU Gives, the company’s initiative dedicated to “uplifting underserved and underrepresented communities,” announced a new energy gel flavor, Raspberry Lemonade, where 10 percent of proceeds will go to Rising Hearts and its Running on Native Lands Initiative.
Rising Hearts works to bring historically underrepresented communities together, while holding space for Indigenous voices to decolonize wellness and lead conversations of racial, social, climate, and economic justice.
“Our main goal is to build and foster meaningful and sustainable relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities,” said Jordan Marie Whetstone, a citizen of Kul Wicasa Oyate (federally known as the Lower Brule Sioux), founder and organizer of Rising Hearts. “Not only is this a partnership, but a kinship in community-building, awareness, amplification of awesome stories and voices, and putting in the heart work to be part of growing efforts to help make the running and outdoor spaces inclusive, diverse, safe, accessible, affordable, visible, and supportive.”
“Rising Hearts promotes the idea of ‘running with the land’ and ‘being a good relative’ in order to build a deeper connection with the land and the Indigenous caretakers of the lands, to ensure a better future not just for the next generation, but for the planet.”
Multi-packs of this special edition endurance fuel features artwork by Yatika Starr Fields (Osage, Muscogee, Cherokee), an accomplished artist and endurance athlete. Fields ran the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run in 2022 and was the guest artist who created its inaugural race poster. This week, Rising Hearts launched their latest film, “Know to Run,” covering Fields’s road to Western States.
“This collaboration with GU, and supporting Yatika, is a shining example of what it means to go beyond just a land acknowledgement or a visible opportunity, but really create pathways to include our voices, passions, art, innovation, and love into this new flavor,” said Marie Whetstone.
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GU is working closely with Rising Hearts leadership on several structural fronts—alongside athletes, race directors, and events—to ensure that the message is clear: the lands upon which we recreate are stolen lands.
“We talk a lot about protecting the places we play,” says Celia Camargo, Director of Community and Purpose at GU Energy Labs. “Now it’s time to take a step back to think, ‘What are these places that we’re recreating on? Rising Hearts promotes the idea of ‘running with the land’ and ‘being a good relative’ in order to build a deeper connection with the land and the Indigenous caretakers of the lands, to ensure a better future not just for the next generation, but for the planet.”
About the New Flavor
According to GU’s website, this special flavor profile is a perfect companion for hotter days on the trail, “crafted with a favorite summertime combo of sweet and juicy raspberry topped off with delicious lemonade.” Headquartered in Berkeley, California, GU Energy Labs produces all of its energy gels onsite, largely powered by solar power.
This new flavor is formulated with dual-pathway carbohydrates for sustained energy, while the raspberry lemonade blend includes 35mg of sodium to aid in hydration, 450mg of amino acids to protect working muscles, and is caffeine-free. You can now find them at your local running retailer or order online here.
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Nicholas Triolo is the Senior Editor for Outside Run & Trail Runner. He holds an M.S. in environmental studies and has been an ultrarunner since 2008. Previously the digital strategist for Orion, Triolo is an ultrarunner, a writer, and reader, with work featured in Orion, Outside Online, Dark Mountain Project, Patagonia’s Dirtbag Diaries, Best American Poetry Blog, Juxtaprose, and others.