SportsShoes.com has released its annual running report and, while there is plenty of good news about how popular running is among women at the moment, the reports highlights concerning news about how safe women feel when they run.
Running is more popular than ever
Let’s dive into the good bits first. 35% of women are running at least once a week, with 14% running 2-3 times a week and 4% running daily. Overall, 40% of the UK population are running regularly, which is 4% up on last year’s report. Running is only growing in popularity.
The barriers women face
However, the majority of that UK population is still weighted towards men. The report details that 51% of women have never been for a run at all, with most of them citing fears around fitness level or that they simply don’t enjoy it as the reason for opting out. 11% of women were also put off running because they feared looking silly or falling over, neither of which factored in for the men who were surveyed.
Women’s safety concerns
Unfortunately, safety remains a key issue for women runners – and for good reason. 48% of women stated that they had felt unsafe while running, compared to 36% of men.
70% of women had experienced an intimidating incident on the run, including:
- being stared at (23%)
- being…
