making strides

at a glance…

5 pioneering charities for women’s sport

empowering women

DID YOU KNOW?

For thousands of years, it was assumed that men were naturally more sporty than women. Thankfully, this claim been challenged and disproved in more recent years thanks to a string of grand successes achieved by elite female athletes, from Olympians to Commonwealth Games medallists, who act as crucial role models for future generations.

Women and running in numbers

Around the globe, non-profit organisations are working to increase numbers of women running and remove stigmas, physical and psychological barriers that discourage women from participating in the sport. These charities say that running builds fitness but also a goal-setting mentality that is crucial in helping women create healthy sustainable futures. Here’s our pick of five top charities that campaign for and support women.

When 49-year old Rachael Woolston from London saw how little support was available to female runners, she decided to do something about it. She launched Girls Run The World, a running app designed for women, by women.

Many experts agree that women are more efficient endurance runners than men thanks to a greater distribution of slow twitch muscle fibres, which makes us more resistant to the onset of fatigue and more adapted to endurance races. “Since these iconic moments in history, such as the introduction of the women’s marathon category in the Olympics, women have more than proved their equality when it comes to long distance running. In fact, I would argue that female physiology is better adapted or more naturally gifted towards longer events and we often see female ultra-unners outperforming men in this area. Generally, all the female athletes I coach are just as hungry for faster times or improved performance as any males I work with. To be honest, they are often better focused and prepared to work harder,” says Nick.

Spurred on by the closure of fitness centres and gyms as a result of ongoing national lockdowns, running is now more popular than ever. And interestingly, research carried out recently by Strava showed that women led a global fitness boom last year, with a huge surge in the numbers of runners, cyclists and walkers becoming more active during the pandemic.

#1 Gender activity gap

#1 A Mile In Her Shoes

As a runner and coach, I’d become frustrated with the gender inequality I saw in sports science and coaching and in attitudes towards women’s running. In the last decade, women’s running has exploded but the support and coaching stagnated after Couch to 5K, despite more women entering the London Marathon ballot nowadays than men. Women’s physiology, mindset and life, work and training balance is different and this needs to be acknowledged with training that fits.

The Strava research showed that the number of uploaded runs and cycle rides almost doubled compared with the same period in 2019 and that, while some of the growth was down to new users, much of the increase in numbers was down to women being more active. Between April and September 2020, women aged 18-29 uploaded 45.2 percent more activities than during the same period the previous year, compared to a 27.3 per cent increase by male Strava athletes.

There are over 700,000 more inactive women than men in England.

Run entirely by unpaid volunteers, this organisation was formed to support women get active as they move on from homelessness. It helps empower women to harness the positive mental, physical and social benefits of indoor and outdoor group exercise and running.