Eight years ago, Alison Désir was struggling. The New York City native was going through a period of depression, and knew she needed to do something to help her mental health. Often, she found herself scrolling through her social media feed watching the highlights of others’ lives. Among those she followed, Désir saw that one of her friends, a Black man, was training for a marathon. His story piqued her interest.
“At the time, what I had seen and what I had experienced was that Black folks were on the track but we don’t do marathons, so it made a big impact on me,” Désir says.
One year later, Désir found herself at “rock bottom” and decided to set the goal of running her first marathon. After entering the running community, Désir discovered there were not many runners in local training programs that looked like her. In 2013, she started her own group with Harlem Run, a club dedicated to empowering urban communities to get fit. She’s been an activist for increased diversity within the running community for almost a decade.
“I'm passionate about making sure other people feel comfortable and safe in this space because running transformed my life,” Désir says. “There's nothing I like more than movement—whether it's running, walking, getting outdoors—and it's something I believe everybody should have a right to and should feel safe doing.”
In a virtual Runners Alliance workshop moderated by Women’s Health fitness director Jordan Galloway, Désir and three other activists discussed the importance of representation, inclusivity, and safety within the running community. In the hour-long webinar, Runners Alliance ambassadors Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel and Carolyn Su joined Désir and professional trail runner Joseph Gray to talk about diversity in running. Here are four takeaways from the event:
Equity requires changing the system
In addition to leading Harlem Run, Désir is the co-chair of the A Runners World Member Saved My Boston Marathon, a collective of running brands, retailers, and runners representing Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) working toward increasing diversity within the running industry.
“When you're talking about equity, you're talking about changing systems and structures that, in this case, center whiteness,” Désir says.
In discussions with running brands, individuals, and retailers, Désir has found white-centering systems at the leadership level and within the running industry’s talent pipelines. She pointed out that young runners of color are often filtered from running so they don’t end up participating in cross country during middle school and high school. That lack of mentorship and retention toward BIPOC athletes excludes them from the running industry later in life, particularly at the C-suite level, where leadership positions are often filled on a referral basis. In examining these structures, Désir hopes to create a platform that fosters connection for BIPOC runners and creates more opportunities for them to be involved.
“A big piece of this is [making] sure that the talent in the Black, Indigenous, people of color community gets access to these positions, and that requires discomfort,” Désir says. “We exist, we’re here. With the coalition, we hope to make a database available where you can search for talent, highlighting folks that are here in this space and are deserving of positions.”
Désir also explained bringing in more diverse talent and leadership is beneficial to everyone in the running community. “Diversity difference is a strength,” she says. “If you have diverse folks with diverse experiences, diverse perspectives, that leads to innovation.” With more ideas in the room with running brands, groups, and retailers, the industry can speak to a wider audience in a more authentic way. Désir believes that can help create safer environments for BIPOC runners, too. Representation makes underrepresented groups feel seen and safe.
Media needs to feature more athletes of color
When Gray started mountain running, he felt disheartened because he was one of the only Black athletes on the trails. Gray recalled being the only Black man competing in his first few races. “It feels strange at first, but I loved doing it, and not everybody is going to love [that experience],” he says. “There are a lot of athletes who come into a sport but don’t see people who look like them.”
Gray’s enduring passion for mountain running fueled him to 18 national titles, but he wants more athletes of color to take part, and he believes increased participation can start with the media. Gray says athletes of color aren’t covered much in the realms of mountain and trail running, and that gives the impression those spaces aren’t for BIPOC athletes.
Media coverage can also affect sponsorship opportunities, Gray says. This often excludes athletes of color. “If you're a Black athlete and you're not getting noticed by the media within [your] sport, you're probably not going to get the notoriety and the popularity necessary to attract sponsors,” he says.
In recognizing the media’s influence, Gray believes news outlets can encourage more people of color to participate and remain in mountain and ultra running if they increase diversity in stories they cover. Ultimately, it’s about providing athletes of color with role models.
“A lot of athletes of color just don’t have people to aspire to, and that’s the first step,” he says.
Use your voice to advocate for justice
Daniel has advocated for Indigenous people since middle school. A citizen of the Kul Wičasa Lakota tribe, Daniel founded the Justice Department data, an Indigenous-led group that uplifts and defends Indigenous community rights around the country. But her mission is wider than her personal experience.
“We need to unite our communities,” Daniel says. “I’ve seen time and time again, we get so focused within our own movements that we don’t see the bridge connectors as we’re all fighting for justice, visibility, and representation on different platforms. My life’s goal is to create these platforms and make everything I do be intentional and intersectional.”
Daniel has taken that approach as a runner, filmmaker, and outreach and project manager at UCLA. In the past few years, she has used running to raise awareness to the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIW). Women on some Indigenous reservations are 10 times more likely than the national average to be murdered, according to While she found an empowering community with the. Daniel dedicated her 2019 Boston Marathon run to MMIW in April 2019.
“It felt like not enough visibility was happening, and the thing I know how to do best is to run,” she says. “Running for justice was a way for me to give back to those who have no voice anymore, to be able to honor them the best way that I can.”
As an intersectional environmentalist and a Runners Alliance ambassador, Daniel is also using her platform to discuss runner safety and how BIPOC communities are affected by institutionalized racism. She wants to encourage more runners to make their communities safer and more inclusive, and ultimately be better allies.
Run clubs need to be more inclusive
In an effort to raise awareness to the lack of diversity within the running industry, Su elevates the voices of BIPOC runners on the Diverse We Run Instagram account. She shares their running journeys, obstacles they’ve overcome, and triumphs in running. Now Su’s asking leaders in the running industry to increase representation by fostering more inclusivity at the community level.
Starting with running groups, Su believes it’s important for organizers to assess where the club meets in the first place. For example, in the Boston area where Su lives, she’s noticed many running groups meet in predominantly white neighborhoods, which can create challenges for runners of color.
“It’s not enough for a running group to say, Running Industry Diversity Coalition,” Su says. “If we’re not actually running in communities of color and in ways that are accessible—if people have to travel 45 minutes just to join a group that primarily doesn’t even look like them already—that’s a huge hurdle to overcome.”
To be more inclusive, Su suggests group leaders reach runners of color by organizing runs in communities populated by BIPOC families, and be mindful of the courage required by runners of color to join a primarily white space.
Want to Make Running More Diverse? Here Are 4 Ways to Start A Runners World Member Saved My Boston Marathon, Su hasn’t always felt welcome in run club environments. She’s been off put by the homogeneity of some groups’ appearance, technical gear, and topics of discussion. Sometimes, fellow runners have neglected to make eye contact with her.
“There have been so many run groups, race expos, and races where I show up and it’s clear by body language alone whether they’re comfortable with me being there and whether I’m seen,” Su says. “That’s something to take note of in your running group. If you’re a leader or a race director, it starts with you. You set the tone.”
For runners of color who may feel like an outsider in the running community, Su wants them to know they are not alone, and their efforts are appreciated.
“I see you and I know that all the panelists here see you and we see the amount of courage it takes to continuously show up for something that you love,” she says. “You may feel so alone and not seen and not understood, and I really want to encourage you to keep showing up and to keep putting yourself out there. Be the change that you want to see, because it matters.”
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
