RIA Member – Black Girls Do Run
Black Girls Do Run UK is an England Athletics affiliated running group founded by Tasha Thompson in 2019 and run by herself and four other volunteers, Linda, Sacha, Annie and Celeste. Tasha always noticed a lack of black women at the start line and following an awkward moment where a race marshal questioned whether Tasha and her running buddy Linda were running the race this coupled with her lived racing experienced motivated her to make a difference by increasing visibility of non-elite black women and to attract more black women to the sport by creating an Instagram account as you can’t be what you can’t see.
Black Girls Do Run UK started out with an online presence but gained momentum, popularity following the murder of George Floyd and have not stopped growing. As running participation grew during the lockdown we grew too, and post-lockdown we started to host monthly social runs in different locations, attend races as a group and share the joy of running. We have featured in Women’s Running, Runner’s World, Good Housekeeping as well as on TV and radio.
It is a community of women that champion and support each other through running and beyond and together they have achieved much success and races that they would never have attempted before if it was not for the support of the community. Our mottos are no one is left behind and live, love, laugh and run and our we do that whilst sharing the love and joy of running.