The World's First Truly Diverse Trail Running Event!
The Black to the Trails event in the Dunstable Downs brought together communities from all backgrounds and was a victory for diversity and true representation within trail running. The event organised by our very own Sabrina Pace-Humphreys with the support of the Black Trail Runners team who were founded during lockdown as a way of encouraging more runners to feel confident about enjoying the outdoors.
Since then the Black Trail Runners has become a registered charity with the main objective being to create diversity within trail running, which is mainly white and it has seen support from all around the world.
Photo credit: Simon Roberts
Moving back to the Black to the Trails event, there were three distances; 1K, 5K and 10K, which were all at full capacity, testament to the team who have promoted this event. Even more impressive was that of all the entries to the races, 70% were of people of colour and 70% were female. From a recent survey, Black Trail Runners found that 0.7% of UK trail races are of people of colour so to achieve 70% is fantastic!
In addition to this, they had a magnificent 250,000 entries to their virtual 5K that they were hosting with partners Strava!
Photo credit: Simon Roberts
Upon arrival there was a real feel-good carnival vibe to the event village, with DJ Caroline bringing the tunes and the energy from the runners and support crews was electric!
You can watch the highlights from the event here:
