
News
Safer Running Initiative in Collaboration with Gwent Police

07/07/2025 00:00, In Blog /
Women’s running across Wales is at an all-time high, with more females than ever before regularly lacing up their trainers to enter mass participation races, join clubs and groups, or to simply run for their physical and mental wellbeing.
However, according to This Girl Can research, almost three quarters (72%) of women in the UK change their activity behaviour during the winter months and “One in four (24%) ensure to take well-lit routes, almost a quarter (23%) avoid certain areas altogether and one in five (20%) glance behind them to ensure they’re not being followed”. There is clearly work that needs to be done to ensure that running is accessible and safe for all that want to participate.
To help women feel more confident about running through the winter and to encourage women to continue running how they want to run, Gwent Police, with support from Welsh Athletics, launched their Safer Running Initiative during the Autumn of 2024. The idea was a simple but effective one; visit as many running clubs and groups across the Gwent area and chat to women and their allies to boost confidence and awareness in reporting unwanted attention when out running.
Since the initiative started, over 300 women and a number of male allies have engaged in the informal talks delivered by Gwent Police. The focus is on providing information on how women can report incidents such as harassment, and unwanted attention, experienced when they are out running. Gwent Police reassured runners that they wouldn’t be wasting police time, and they will act upon reports that are made, this was received well by all those in attendance. Adding to this, top tips on technology that can be used to support women feel safer whilst running were also explained and discussed. Features such as smart watch fall detection, which sends a message to your ICE contact if you need help, and various features such as Beacon in Strava that can share your location with a ICE contact whilst you are out running. Awareness was also drawn to safety features within apps that you can choose to toggle on or off. Attendees were able to take a personal attack alarm home with them if they felt this would increase their confidence to continue running throughout the darker months.
Deputy Chief Constable Nicky Brain and Detective Constable Taylor were part of a positive discussion involving Dame Denise Lewis, a former Olympic heptathlon champion and the current UK Athletics president, at Welsh Athletics’ Women's Running Conference in Newport.
The conference was a great platform on which we were able to promote our Safer Running initiative and to provide advice and reassurance to women and girls who run outdoors in the evenings,” said DCC Brain.
Denise Lewis enjoyed a glittering athletics career, culminating in an Olympic gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Games in Sydney, and she was full of support for our scheme. More than 200 women at the conference also welcomed our initiative and we explained how we were working with Welsh Athletics successfully and will be spreading our message further in the autumn.”
We want to help remove barriers by offering our advice and support and providing women with the tools to ensure their safety. We’ve talked about the use of apps on mobile phones and watches to help make people feel safer and would encourage all women to take practical steps, such as staying in well-lit spaces and sharing plans with trusted people.
10 running clubs and groups from across the Gwent area participated in the positive, informal talks, often held before or after a training session. The feedback from attendees was great and Welsh Athletics and Gwent Police look forward to expanding on this work in the Autumn.
Polly Lord, Chair and Ladies’ Captain at Caldicot Running Club said:
Gwent Police gave us not only practical steps on women's safety, but helped start the wider conversation in club. Now dads are talking to their daughters, clubmates are offering to run with - or near - female members, and runners are reporting uncomfortable moments to us. As a club, we are now more confident in resolving issues and value the relationship we've formed with Gwent police through this programme. While we have a long way still to go, working in partnership to say no - this isn't ok - has been a powerful first step.
Layla, Run Leader at Newport Female Runners’ Network added:
NFRN have taken extra measures to ensure the safety not only of our leaders but also the ladies. Some of us like to carry an alarm when out on a run. We will also ensure none of our ladies are on their own and that they get back safely.
Thank you to the following running clubs and groups that have engaged in the Safer Running Initiative pilot across Gwent:
Caerleon Running Club
Chepstow Harriers
Cwmbran Easy Pacers
Caldicot Running Club
Islwyn Run Club
Lliswerry Runners
Newport Female Runners Network
Pontypool & District Running Club
RunNewport
The Running Social
Whilst this initiative is specific to Gwent Police, we hope to work with Dyfed-Powys Police, North Wales Police & South Wales Police to create something similar within their regions following the success of this pilot project.
Reporting an Incident
Gwent Police is working with its communities and partners to improve safety measures and raise awareness, ensuring everyone can go about their activities safely. As part of the Safer Running Initiative, Gwent Police is encouraging women to contact them by phone, online or via our social media channels, should they experience any harassment or threatening behaviour while on their runs.
DCC Brain said:
It’s important to stress that while we are not seeing reported issues across Gwent, women and girls should be able to run outdoors in the evenings without any concerns for their wellbeing.
You can report incidents to Gwent Police by calling 101, message us directly on our Facebook social media channels, or report online via: REPORT. Always dial 999 in an emergency.
If you live outside the Gwent Police area, you can report incidents by calling 101 and always dial 999 in an emergency.
Members of affiliated Welsh Athletics Clubs can also report any issues to their Club Welfare Officer, who can follow policies and procedures as necessary. Where an incident is reported to the police the police will lead and categorise the incident and deal with it accordingly. To follow best practice the Club Welfare Officer should also be updated to log the incident and offer any support to the athlete and check the police have been informed. Finally, Welsh Athletics Safeguarding Lead should also be notified for relevant records to be completed. For further information on Safeguarding & Welfare within our sport please head to: Safeguarding & Welfare
As we are now enjoying the lighter (and hopefully warmer) nights that summer brings, the initiative will be pausing until the autumn months. Welsh Athletics will be leading a campaign in Autumn 2025 to advocate for women’s safety in running and will be coordinating with other partners, including Gwent Police and Welsh Government to ensure greater awareness and impact in this space. If you’d like to be involved in this, please contact Hannah Baulch via hannah.pretty@welshathletics.org .