Four running clubs in Scarborough are joining forces on Wednesday evening to host a collaborative event in support of the national "Let’s Lift The Curfew" campaign.
The movement, which has been running since October 2023, aims to amplify women’s voices regarding safety concerns when getting active outdoors during the darker months.
The local effort sees the Rise and Shine Runners, Scarborough Athletic Club, Run Scarborough, and the Untitled Love running club partnering to stage a joint run.
Shaun Tymon, from the Rise and Shine Runners group, explains what they will be doing:
“There's four running groups have got together to organize "let's lift the curfew" in Scarborough.
There's the Rise and Shine that I'm involved with. Scarborough Athletic Club, Run Scarborough and the Untitled Love running club.
We're all organizing our own runs but meeting together at 6:15 at the Sands just outside Taylor's Bar and Kitchen. And we're just going to do a 5K run around the marine drive. So it's an out and back so you can turn around early if you would like.
And it's just to get the groups together. Hopefully we'll get a large number of people all all lit up with the head torches if you got them or lights or whatever you want.
But just to raise that awareness that there are lots and lots of options in Scarborough to run with groups every night of the week”.
The "Let's Lift The Curfew" campaign calls upon wider society to acknowledge its part in making outdoor physical activity safer and more inclusive for women. This year marks the third iteration of the campaign, which coincides with the official end of summertime.
Shaun Tymon explained that the core idea behind the local run is to increase societal awareness of the safety concerns many women face:
“The idea is it's to raise awareness in society to try and acknowledge the role that we all have in making running outside in the dark for women particularly safer. So it's that time of year when the nights are drawing in so people are not so keen to to get out or a bit worried if they're feel a bit vulnerable when they're when they're running.
So we're trying to make people just aware of that so that people support people who feel vulnerable and also to make people out there aware that there are groups they can run with on a night or like our group early mornings”.
Beyond safety, the event highlights the benefits of group running for mental wellbeing, a key focus for the Rise and Shine Runners group. Shaun emphasised the importance of feeling able to run year-round and shared concerns expressed by female members:
“We don't care which group you run with, but just get out there running. It's so good for people's mental health, which is why Rise and Shine was set up.
It's important that people feel able to do that year round. And I know talking to women in the Rise and Shine group, how many of them do feel uncomfortable running in in the dark on on their own. And so it it is it's important that people have that awareness that these groups do exist.
I'd say go and run with any or all of these groups. There's some really great people in all these groups that meet every night”.
Shaun says that running alongside others is seen as a way to facilitate difficult yet beneficial conversations about mental health:
“It's sometimes difficult to have a chat with somebody face to face about mental health, but if you're running along alongside somebody, you're not looking directly at them, but you can have a chat and it's the pressure is off a little bit. And it's amazing how conversations do develop.
I've had all sorts of conversations with Rise and Shine members that I probably wouldn't have had with them if I'd met them for a coffee. But it's the running that lifts your spirits and also brings brings the conversation out”.
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