Running heroes doing the sport justice
Off the back International Women’s Day I feel it’s important to celebrate women and the great stuff they do all year round.
I mean, I’m a mum all the time, so where Mother’s Day is just a tokenism – I hope that I’m appreciated the rest of the time too! International Women’s Day is a brilliant concept, but let’s not forget women for the rest of the year.
I’ve been thinking about women in sport, and in particular, trail and ultra running. Training for the Dragon’s Back Race and working it around mum life, day to day work and taxi-ing, I’m thinking about the barriers that affect my journey getting to the start line, and I’ve been talking to other women and finding out what their challenges are. There’s a bigger piece in the pipeline about women’s barriers to ultra running, but for now I wanted to focus on those runners that I hold in high regard for speaking out, making change, holding true to their beliefs and leading to positive changes in the sport.
There is no particular order to this list, and there are so, so many more than this, but here are some women that have made me sit up and think, and feel more empowered to continue with what I believe too. I hope they can inspire you too.
Sophie Power
A photograph of Sophie breastfeeding her three-month old during a 106-mile ultra went viral – it’s now featured in the Guardian’s 50 Photographs that Reshaped Sport, and off the back of the photograph she used the publicity to launch the SheRaces Campaign, fighting for equal opportunities in racing, and working with event organisers to make their events more inclusive.
Pregnancy deferral policies and race guidelines that consider female participation have all been taken up by various events thanks to Sophie’s work. Not only is her breastfeeding image iconic, she’s also a phenomenal runner.
Find out more about Sophie on her website and at SheRaces
Sabrina Pace-Humphreys
I interviewed Sabrina for a piece about trail running vs road running, and her passion for trail running was just so contagious (despite me loving it already!) Sabrina is a co-founder of Black Trail Runners, and as a mum of four, and having faced so many challenges before finally tying up her shoelaces and setting up an all-female running group, she’s a mental health advocate and an inspiration for women runners from all backgrounds.
Read more about Sabrina on her website
Fiona Oakes
Fiona is an elite ultra runner and the fastest woman in the world to run a marathon on all seven continents and the north pole in both cumulative and elapsed time. Not only that, she’s had 17 surgeries on her right knee which saw her kneecap being completely removed, she runs a sanctuary which looks after more than 600 animals, she’s competed in more than 100 marathons, placing top twenty in Berlin and London marathons and she’s a vegan! What a flipping amazing human being!
Find out more about her and her running on the Fiona Oakes Foundation website
Vic Izzy Owens
Vic (above) is one of three women on this list who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in person – I first met Vic, aka The Happy Runner, when she and I were involved in The National Running Show Indoor Relay. It blew my mind that someone could run around and around her back garden completely barefoot for marathon miles, and then she went on to became the fastest person and only woman to run The Monarch’s Way. She inspired me to try barefoot running, but more than that I think she actually showed me that it’s ok to run the way you choose and not be constrained by societal norms. She’s a wonderful human and now runs We Run Bright, a running clothing brand together with her friend and fellow runner Gavin King.
Follow Vic on Instagram at @thehappyrunnernw
Nikki Love
Nikki is an advocate for anyone who wants to do it their way. An author, speaker and runner, Nikki’s tagline is “Chasing Extraordinary”. Adventure is in Nikki’s bones, and as a runner in her 50s, she smashes stereotypes, shows that running is possible for everybody and speaks out about running through menopause. Next step – Nikki’s only running across Australia, beginning on May 1, that’s 63 consecutive marathons, a total of 2450 miles and you can follow her journey and read about it over on her RunAustralia page or on her social media @nikkiloveruns
Nicky Chrascina
Couldn’t not mention a woman who encouraged my running and who although you’d call an “ordinary” runner, is actually completely extraordinary. Nicky (pictured above) has run more than 100 marathons, she’s run ultras across the world including the Marathon des Sables, and the Atacama Desert. She packed in her job working for a pharmaceutical company to set up her company Flanci when most would be thinking about retirement, as she didn’t think there was enough colour in the running world, and she literally held my hand on my first ultra – the Salisbury 54321. I owe a lot to Nikki in terms of where I am now with my running. She is an inspiration and she’s one of the kindest people I know. That’s the thing about runners. They’re lovely people. Nikki documents her adventures on her Instagram page @nickylovestorunfar
Vegan Fitness Runner 