It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint

I am always extremely enthusiastic for the arrival of March, mainly because of the warmer weather and lighter evenings which accompany it. Sure, the start of the month has produced some torrential rain here in the UK, but isn’t it great that it's not dark at 5pm anymore?

Since I started in sports journalism, the start of March has also resulted in a new phenomena – a dramatic increase in emails. These are normally press releases, interview opportunities and event invitations centred around one thing… International Women’s Day, which falls every year on March 8. 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not opposed to the concept of International Women’s Day. Just yesterday, I was at a brilliant Professional Cricketers' Association event at the Oval, which provoked fascinating discussions around women’s sport and gave attendees the opportunity to make productive connections within the industry. 

It’s more that the increased focus on women’s sport at the start of March can be frustrating, because, in my opinion, it should be all year round. I wish I had the same amount of press releases announcing brilliant women’s sport initiatives landing in my inbox every single day. I urge anyone marking International Women’s Day this year to keep up the same energy 24/7, and to prioritise long-term and effective action over tokenistic gestures with a short shelf-life. Achieving gender equality in sport is a marathon, not a sprint. 

Which brings me onto the topic of today’s newsletter. I’m currently training for the 2024 London Marathon (and raising money for the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund, which helps young British athletes reach their full potential. Any donations would be greatly appreciated ❤️).

I genuinely hated running before the pandemic, but picked it up during the first lockdown. With little else to do, I found joy in challenging myself to run 5km without stopping, and once I could do this, became engrossed in beating my own personal best. In October 2020, I entered the 2021 London Marathon ballot on a whim, and four months later, found out I’d got a place. The day itself was brilliant, and I weirdly enjoyed the training regime leading up to it. I have entered every London Marathon ballot since, and have been fortunate to get a place again at this year’s event. 

When I took up running in 2020, I understood it to be a fairly gender-balanced recreational activity. A lot of my female friends ran, a lot of my male friends ran. There didn’t seem to be many obvious barriers to female participation, apart from concerns around safety when running in the dark. It seemed a lot easier an activity to take part in as a woman compared to my experiences playing football when I was younger. I naively thought this had probably been the case for some time, but this year, as I was researching and writing my book on women’s sports pioneer Alice Milliat, I realised I was wrong. 

I knew the story of Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as an officially registered competitor, who was grabbed by the race manager mid-marathon and nearly forced off the course. But I had never really taken on board that this happened in 1967, not even 30 years before I was born. Women were only officially able to run the Boston Marathon in 1972.

Or the fact that women weren’t able to compete in the Olympic marathon until 1984, just over a decade before I was born! The myth that women were too frail to compete over long distances still prevailed at this point, and it took the hard work and perseverance of a number of brilliant women to get the International Olympic Committee to add a women’s marathon to the Los Angeles 1984 programme.

Recreational running now seems so accessible and more inclusive than most sports, particularly because of initiatives such as Parkrun. The realisation that this has only been the case in recent years has changed my perspective on running. 

At first, it was an activity to get through lockdown, and then it became something that kept me fit, both physically and mentally. It’s still something I do for enjoyment, of course, but now it has an added significance.

I’m now more aware that, until very recently, even training for a marathon was essentially an act of defiance against prejudice and discrimination. It’s definitely something that I’ll be keeping in mind as I run freely during my long training run this weekend, and will perhaps use it as motivation during the London Marathon in April.

Winning Women

Celebrating the impressive achievements of female athletes across the world

• With the Paris 2024 Olympic Games now just mere months away, a whole host of British athletes are set to become household names over the summer. I’m predicting Molly Caudery will be one of them. The 23-year-old earned the pole vault title at the World Athletics Indoor Championships earlier this week, adding to the silver medal she claimed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

• On the same night that Caudery struck gold, Dutch superstar Femke Bol broke her own indoor 400m world record. She sliced 0.07 seconds off her previous best time to finish in 49.17. The 24-year-old is also the outdoor 400m hurdles world champion and Olympic bronze medallist.

• Claressa Shields, a three-weight world champion in boxing, took part in her first MMA fight since 2021. She defeated fellow American Kelsey De Santis by split decision, consolidating her status as an elite fighter across two sports.

Bits and bobs

Women’s sport news and content you may have missed

• There’s always so much going on in football, isn’t there? The NWSL season starts next week, and for the first time, every team will go into the campaign with a brand new Nike kit. White shorts have been completely scrapped too, due to players’ concerns about visible period leaks. If anyone’s interested to know which kit is my favourite, I’ve done a ranking over on TikTok.
  
  

• Over in England, the FA has made female health training mandatory for Women’s Super League and Championship clubs. Working in collaboration with The Well HQ, clubs will receive new courses and best practice guidelines on pregnancy, the menstrual cycle and pelvic health. Separately, the UK Parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee has released a report calling for a long-term strategy to tackle sportswomen’s health and physiology-related issues, including those related to sportswear and kit.

• Has anyone seen Copa 71 yet? The film about the unofficial Women’s World Cup in 1971 is out in cinemas today, and it’s been getting great reviews. I’m hoping to go and see it at my local Picturehouse this weekend.

• The F1 Academy is back this weekend, after a successful first season last year. Georgia Goulding has produced this informative guide to the competition, which aims to develop female drivers and help them progress up the motorsport ladder. The F1 Academy recently announced a partnership with Charlotte Tilbury, and has now added Tommy Hilfiger to their impressive list of sponsors.
  

  
  

• I really like this campaign from Molson, the new sponsor for the Professional Women's Hockey League. The brewing company are sponsoring the space above the PWHL’s shirt numbers, which is usually covered by the player’s hair. The player’s names are now being shifted to the bottom of the shirts, where they can be seen.

• Shabnim Ismail bowled the fastest delivery ever seen in women’s cricket this week, recording an incredible speed of 132.1 km/h. The feat occurred during a Women’s Premier League match between the Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals.
  

  
  

• Back to the World Athletics Indoor Championships to finish off. I absolutely loved this interview with Ewa Swoboda, who voiced exactly how I feel when I have to get up early for something – albeit not a race at a World Championships. Swoboda eventually finished second in the 60m.

That’s all for today’s newsletter. If you enjoyed it, please share with your networks and anyone else you think may be interested. Thank you!