Women in Trail Running and Ultrarunning: Perspectives on the Challenges and Progression Toward Equity

March 19, 2024

According to the running publication Run Repeat, as of 2022, women’s participation in trail races has reached 46%, whereas in 1997 only 13% of trail race participants were women. And if we look at Run Repeat’s 2020 study of ultrarunning, we learn that while women’s participation is much lower overall, at 23%, as of 2020, women’s participation numbers have increased from 14% in 1997. The data from both of these studies and one more of Run Repeat’s on the sport of running as a whole in 2019 show that women make up far higher percentages of shorter-distance races than longer-distance races. irunfar