On Wednesday morning, 4 November Reigate Ladies Joggers was on BBC News and on BBC Surrey radio. The story was about why so many local women are joining us as the evenings draw in, and it had one line at its heart: safety in numbers.
We are proud, a little bit stunned, and mostly grateful to the members who stood in the rain on a Monday night and told the BBC what running with other women has meant to them.
You can read the full article here: 'Safety in numbers' as women join run group in winter (BBC News). The radio piece from BBC Surrey's breakfast show is on our Facebook page: listen to the BBC Surrey clip.
What the BBC found
BBC Surrey's James Dunn came to one of our evening sessions with a simple question: why do our numbers rise every autumn, just as most people's running drops off? Our members gave him the same answer we hear at every first session. Running alone after dark can feel threatening. Running in a group feels safe, and it feels fun.
The piece sits alongside new BBC research showing that more than half of women in the South East do not feel safe exercising after sundown. This Girl Can, backed by Sport England, found the same picture nationally: over half of women feel unsafe exercising outdoors, compared with around a third of men. Kate Dale from This Girl Can put it plainly in the article: if women cannot run in the dark, they lose half the year.
Two of our members, Emily and Carol, described what that looks like on the ground: vans slowing alongside them, horns, shouting from car windows. None of it is banter when you are on your own on an unlit road.
Our founder Emma told the BBC that the power of the group is what keeps so many women running through the winter, and that it is sad how many simply stop. That is the bit we most want people to hear.
What a winter run with us actually looks like
It looks like a line of women in hi-vis and chest lights, chatting at the start point, and a coach leading the group. Nobody gets left behind, and nobody runs a dark stretch on their own.
A few things we do without making a fuss about them:
Every session is women-only and coach-led, and in most cases there is a sweeper, so the back of the group is never alone
Routes are planned for lighting and footfall, and we avoid the spots we know are a problem
We run in groups of mixed pace, so the pace is never the thing that isolates you
Lights and reflective kit are the norm, not the exception
None of it is complicated. It just needs enough of us, and that is exactly why the group gets bigger when the clocks go back.
Jog On, and why Reigate was first
Earlier this autumn, Surrey Police launched Jog On in Reigate: plain-clothes female officers running the routes where women report being followed or harassed, with support teams close by to step in. To choose those routes, officers worked with local running clubs, and we were one of them. The tactics have since been picked up by forces around the country.
We are proud of that. It is the clearest sign yet that what our members experience is being taken seriously, and that the answer is not for women to stay in, but for the behaviour to stop.
Come and run with us
If the article struck a chord, you are exactly who we started this club for. You do not need to be fast, fit or brave. You need a pair of trainers and the rest of us.
We meet in Redhill and Reigate every week, running and power walking at every pace. Your first session is free.
Thank you to James Dunn and BBC Surrey for coming out in the rain, to members Emily, Carol and Coach Alex for speaking so honestly, and to every member who turned up in hi-vis for the photos.
