Garmin International Inc. announced its involvement in the national Runners Alliance, an advocacy initiative to help fight the harassment that female runners experience while exercising.
The Runners Alliance, launched by Runner’s World and Women’s Health, is committed to altering perceptions about what it means to run while female, and provide all runners and communities across the nation tools and solutions needed to help make running safer for women. In addition to editorial content in Runner’s World and Women’s Health, runners will be able to go online to view articles on safety, preparation and best practices.
“Safety is a major focus for us here at Garmin and we are proud to be part of the Runners Alliance initiative to work to provide women with tools to help stay safe while they’re out logging their miles,” said Susan Lyman, Garmin vice president of global consumer marketing. “Whether working out before the sun comes up, during a lunch break or late at night, we believe every athlete – from the beginner to the elite – should have access to our safety features on their wearable, although we hope they will never need to use them.”
Garmin’s smartwatches incident detection feature will automatically send a message with an athlete’s real-time location to their preloaded emergency contacts if an incident is detected during an activity. Users can also discreetly send a message to their preloaded emergency contacts with the assistance feature or let friends and family follow along on activities in real-time with the LiveTrack feature.
To bring attention to the harassment experienced by female runners, a documentary film produced by Runner’s World will premiere on October 30 to coincide with the New York City Marathon. It will feature three victims and their families, and the impact they are making within the running community, both locally and nationally. What’s more, a series of Runners Alliance workshops will take place in communities around the country to help inspire runners, run groups and residents to take action and bring about change. To learn more, visit www.runnersworld.com/runnersalliance.
