The people, campaigns, research and updates making an impact in our running community this month
THEWOMEN MAKING RUN HISTORY…
Historic 5K and 10K performances
A massive congratulations to Ciara Mageean (pictured above), who took 12 seconds off the parkrun world record in Victoria Park in Belfast. With her time of 15:13, Mageean became the fastest female parkrunner in history.
Last year was incredible for the 31-year-old Irish Olympian, with this latest record one in many from 2023, including Irish national records in the 800m, 1,500m and mile. With the World Indoors and European Champs coming up, as well as the Olympics in Paris, the world’s best female middle-distance runners will have to watch their backs.
Historic first ever sub-29-minute women’s 10K
Kenyan runner Agnes Jebet Ngetich (pictured left) has become the first woman in history to run 10K in under 29 minutes. With a blistering 28:46 on the roads of Valencia in January, she took 28 seconds off the previous record, held by Yalemzerf Yehualaw. En route to this historic time, Ngetich managed to equal the world 5K record at the halfway point in the race. Second-placed Emmaculate Achol also broke the 29-minute barrier, while Britain’s Jess Judd took 25 seconds off her PB, to move into fourth place in the UK all-time rankings with 30:41.
84%
of Strava athletes globally, and 78% of Strava athletes in the UK, say exercise – even solo – helps them combat feelings of loneliness
(According to Strava’s annual Year In Sport report, strava.com)
WOMEN LESS LIKELY TO ENTER RUNNING EVENTS
New research commissioned by British race organiser Threshold Sports (thresholdsports.co.uk) has revealed that the alarming gap between male and female participation in running events increases as the distance goes up. The result is that many more men than women take on marathon and ultra-marathon events.
With female participation in organised running events falling, the proportion of women on start lines continues to decline. Only 30% of participants in ultra-marathon events in 2023 were female. In an attempt to halt this trend, Threshold Sports has launched its Ultra 50:50 campaign, which sets a target to achieve gender parity at their world-famous ultra trail events, including Race to the Stones and Race to the King, by this summer.
Threshold Sports CEO, Nick Tuppen said: “Our goal for the Ultra 50:50 campaign is to increase female participation and level the playing field at the toughest end of the distance spec
