October 2024: Threshold Sports is on a mission to excite, empower and engage 500+ first-time female ultra runners to join their Race to the Stones and Race to the King events in 2025.

Women are largely underrepresented at running events and only 30%* of ultra runners are female. Threshold’sUltra 50:50 Initiative seeks to set new industry standards to inspire, empower and enable women to take part in ultramarathon events. This year they are taking things one step further with their 500 Trailblazers Campaign to give women the confidence and knowledge to tackle their first ultramarathon.

As part of the 500 Trailblazers, they are looking for female nominations who have never completed an ultramarathon to become 2025 Ultra 50:50 Challengers and take on their first ultra by tackling either 50km or 100km at their Race to the King event in June. All Challengers will receive free race entry for themselves and a training partner, comprehensive training plans, dedicated coaching calls and kit and clothing from their event partners. Applications are open now and will close on October 25th 2024. To qualify for nomination you must be female or non-binary and a first-time ultrarunner.

Alongside this, a brand new first-of-a-kind White Paper has been published by Threshold and SheRACES to evaluate the impact of their Ultra 50:50 Initiative and share the benefits of investment in gender parity in ultra-distance trail running events

The research from the new White Paper has revealed that in 2024:

• Threshold Trail Series events saw a +59% increase in female participation in their 50k ultras and a +19% increase in their 100k non-stop ultras.
• Their Race to the King event, the focal point of the Ultra 50:50 campaign, saw 424 female participants in the 50k distance, an increase of 98% from 2023.

From this research, Threshold Sports has identified that one of the most challenging physical and psychological barriers faced by female runners is taking the leap from shorter distance events such as 5k, 10k or half marathon events to ultramarathons (50k+). In the spirit of their mantra ‘More Is In You’, they recognise that they can always go one step further. In 2025 they will continue their Ultra 50:50 initiative, maintaining all the improvements that have already been put in place, but with a focus on first-time ultra runners and three key areas for ongoing improvement:

Building community around events

Encourage peer-to-peer support and connect people who may not have a training network in their local area. A new strategic partnership with the Heylo platform will help facilitate the creation of female-led communities around the Trail Series events.

Night running support

Support the extensive training needed for an ultra which requires participants to train throughout the winter, often in the dark and sometimes in remote locations. Threshold will continue to share practical advice regarding winter training and partner with kit providers to support training in the dark.

Equal Race to the Stones Record Prize Fund

Ten years since Sarah Morwood set the current women’s course record, in 2025 Threshold Sports will award £1,000 to any man or woman who breaks their respective gender’s Race to the Stones course record.

Threshold Sports hopes that by sharing their White Paper research to raise awareness of the challenges women face and showcase the changes they have made to their events, they can provide a commercially sustainable blueprint for other event organisers who share this mission.

Sophie Power, Founder of SheRACES has said: “We are excited to have partnered with Threshold on this first-of-a kind research into the commercial value of inclusivity for women and commend their foresight in this area. Threshold were one of the first adopters of the SheRACES guidelines and are active advocates for female athletes of all backgrounds. We hope that this analysis encourages more discussion of the significant value of female participation, as well as wider adoption of SheRACES guidelines in all mass participation events globally.”

Penny Welch, CCO at Threshold Sports said: “In 2025 Threshold Sports will continue to invest in female participation, with a focus on first-time ultra runners. The Ultra 50:50 campaign illustrates a clear case for making events more inclusive and attractive to female participants. By diverting marketing spend from paid advertising to a more purpose-led campaign and making reasonably modest investments in service provisions to accommodate the needs of female participants, we have been able to significantly increase participant numbers and the profitability of these events.”

Check out the Threshold Sports RIA Foundation Member profile here