‘I don’t feel safe running alone in Leeds, so I made my own female only run club’

A new female-only running club in Headingley is aiming to make running safer and more welcoming for women, after attracting more than 175 people to its first session.

She Runs Leeds was founded by Freya Shute around a month ago, after she found herself feeling unsafe running alone and wanted to build a community where women could enjoy the sport together.

The club welcomes runners of all abilities and paces, with an emphasis on making sure nobody feels left behind.

The weekly runs also offer a chance for all members to socialise afterwards, with the group heading to Hyde café near Hyde Park Corner for a post-run coffee and catch-up.

Freya told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “When I’ve been running on my own, I don’t always feel safe, and I was missing that sense of community to run with.

“We try to make a space where you can be at any speed or pace and still know you’re not going to get left behind. That is so important to me.”

The club was created with women’s safety at its heart, providing a space where members can run together without worrying about being catcalled, shouted at or left alone on isolated paths.

Freya said women often have to consider factors that men may not think about when heading out for a run, including where they are going, whether their route is isolated and how dark it might be.

She said: “As we move into winter and it gets darker earlier, I don’t want to be running outside on my own. You just never know what could happen.

“These fears have stopped me from going on a run altogether at times, I’ve been on a run before where I’ve been catcalled, and it just completely puts you off.”

As the evenings get darker, Freya has also highlighted the lack of lighting in Woodhouse Moor, where the group runs a lap as part of its route.

She said the park becomes particularly difficult to navigate after dark, making it somewhere she would not feel comfortable even walking through alone.

“You literally can’t see anything here when it’s dark,” she said.

“Lighting throughout would just make it safer to both walk and run through.”

The idea for lighting in Woodhouse Moor has previously been rejected over fears lights would encourage more people to walk through the park after sunset and illuminate those using the paths.

Despite the challenges women face when running alone, the response to She Runs Leeds has already exceeded Freya’s expectations.

She told the YEP: “It’s been a crazy four weeks. We had over 175 people at our first run, which was so unexpected, and I never thought it could be anything like that.”

The club is now introducing midweek runs to give members more opportunities to get together and continue building connections with other members.

For She Runs Leeds, the aim is to create a welcoming space where women can enjoy running at their own pace, feel part of a community and have greater confidence heading out on the streets of Leeds.