What is the Nike after dark tour and how is it creating an empowering space for female athletes?

The Nike After Dark tour is a series of races held across the globe made for women. The most recent event, held on the 17^th of October in London, was a 10k road race designed to bring women from different backgrounds and abilities together to create a meaningful, community inspired running event. The event provides women with a space to push their potential in a safe and supportive space after dark. These races were created for women to foster empowerment in an electrifying night-time environment.

The motivations behind this event are to battle the fears women experience daily whilst exercising. I asked some female Northumbria students, who took part in the 10K road race, their thoughts on running, especially in the dark. One said: “I always feel the need to be alert when running in the dark”, ultimately this takes away from the relaxing and freeing element which running can give you. Another said: “it never feels 100% safe”. For me, this demonstrates the importance of having events like these set up. Not only does it bring women a sense of community but provides women with an environment to run carefree.

With the focus of the event being women, there were multiple features to enhance this. Bibs were created to fit women’s bodies as well as the “medal being a necklace and the kit… being pink”. There were stands for “glitter tattoos, hair, nails and makeup” too!  Female athletes gave inspirational talks which one student felt magnified the “community of women” even further by being surrounded by a “network of likeminded people”.  It’s small things like these which truly enhance the enjoyability of an event like this.

These kinds of events are becoming more important, especially at this time of year; mornings and evenings are darker, making finding times for running around work increasingly difficult. As a female who is a consistent runner, I avoid running in the dark. If I do run in the dark, I ensure I am wearing something bright, make sure that I know my route, tell my friends where I am going and how long I’ll be and I even give my live track to a number of people. Even with these precautions, I still never feel completely safe.

I often question why running has become like this for females, living in a society where precautions like these are somewhat necessary. This event provides women with a space, in the dark, to test their abilities with the course being a “PB style layout” but without the added pressures of having to dress in certain colours and being constantly aware of their surroundings.

Women deserve to be in sport and they deserve to run. Like Nike says, ‘if you have a body, you are an athlete’ and the Nike After Dark tour makes this easier for women.