Feel like some #activeactivism? Here’s what you can do.
Ask your club and the leagues and races you compete in to sign up to the RunEqual pledge
Let us know and we will add them to our list of supporters (coming soon).
Ask them if they would like to supply a quote in support which we can use.
Share pictures of you and others supporting RunEqual
On Twitter using #runequal and @run_equal, or on our Facebook page.
Make and distribute ribbons to your club members to wear at races to show support.
Buy 15mm purple and green ribbons and safety pins from a craft supplier, cut into 15cm and pin a green and purple one together.
Wear RunEqual branded clothing at races to show support.
Order here (all of the commission we receive goes to charity).
Wear a RunEqual sign on your back at races to show support
Ask London City AC for some to distribute to your club, or make your own.
Be creative with the RunEqual logo
Here is the high resolution logo: JPEG or PNG or EPS.
Write to governing bodies asking them to equalise their events
Contact details will appear here soon!
Look for opportunities to share RunEqual in the media.
Here are examples of what we have already done.
Let us know if you want us to feature on a TV/radio/podcast/article.
Propose a motion at your running club AGM
Here is a template which has been successfully used by other clubs.
This template is also available in PDF format.
This club believes that women and men should have equality of competition opportunities and experiences.
With this principle in mind this club shall:
1) Ensure our own events offer equal race distances, age categories, prizes and status for women and men
2) In the leagues and events we compete where competitions are not equal, the club will proactively advocate and vote for equal race distances, age categories, prizes and status for women and men.
When this means event distances will change, it is for the event organiser to decide what that distance should be based on their knowledge of their event and logistics. We support their decision as long as the main principle of equality is upheld.
Specific examples where we will advocate and vote for change:
<list examples here relevant to the events your club competes in that are not equal, e.g:>
- Metropolitan league cross country
- England National Cross Country championships
- SEAA Southern XC championships
- London XC championships
- North of the Thames XC
- Middlesex XC championships
- 4/6 stage relays
- Any competition where veteran age categories are different for women and men, e.g. V35 for women and V40 for men.
Suggested introduction to motion
It’s worth saying that for the vast majority of running events, this motion is not needed.
Running does a lot better than other sports at welcoming women and mostly provides a good model to other sports for treating women and men equally across all distances of event. Despite all the things we still do as a society to discourage women and girls from competition and physical activity, 45% of applicants to the London marathon are women, and around 45% of parkrunners are women. An organiser setting up a new event wouldn’t consider different distances for each sex. Nobody running a 10k has ever thought ‘why aren’t the women running 7k’.
This motion is targeted at the small number of events that do not invite women and men to participate equally. These are increasingly embarrassing historical anomalies which do our sport no favours and are in our clubs interest to change.
It is also worth saying that this change is already happening. Scotland have equalised their national XC champs to 10k (with record participants for the first equal event in 2018), the IAAF have equalised international XC to 10k, Intercounties XC has equalised to 10k, Essex county XC has equalised to 10k and a number of local leagues have also recently equalised their distances.
We anticipate votes on the remaining events will happen in the near future, the purpose of this motion is to establish a clear club position for our representatives at these.
Propose a change to the events and leagues you and your club compete in that are not equal at their AGM or relevant decision making forum.
Here is a template motion.
This template is also available in PDF format.
Our club believes that a key principle of our running community and the races and leagues we compete in is that women and men should have equality of competition opportunities and experiences.
With this principle in mind our club propose that this race/league should ensure it offers equal race distances, age categories, prizes and status for women and men.
Specifically for this race/league this means (delete as necessary):
- Senior race distances should be equalised
- Junior race distances (by age category) should be equalised
- Veteran age categories should be equalised to V40, V50, V60 etc for all
- Women’s and men’s prizes should be equalised
We propose that it is for the event organiser to decide what the most appropriate equal distance should be based on their knowledge of their event and logistics. We will support your decision as long as the main principle of equality is upheld.
Run Equal 