Cambridge runners team up with police in abuse crackdown
Police will be speaking to people in the city as part of a campaign to improve women's safety
A running group in Cambridgeshire is teaming up with police in a bid to improve women's safety while exercising.
Laura-May Land set up the Cambridge branch of Girls That Jog in 2023 in a bid to cut down on persistent abuse aimed at female runners.
She's previously been threatened while running on the city's streets and is continuing to call for change.
"For me, it was a case of being catcalled every time I turned a corner, sexualised comments, comments about my body, especially by groups of men on the street," Laura-May said.
"In a pool of people we have within the running community, it seems everybody has a story or knows somebody who has a story, so it's important we do this to raise awareness and hopefully advocate for some change."
Police campaign
After concerns were raised by the group earlier this year around harassment faced by runners, Cambridgeshire Police got in touch with Girls That Jog as part of its own women's safety campaign.
Today (Sunday), officers are due to be in Cambridge to listen to anyone with experiences of street-based harassment.
Data from the Policing Research Partnership found 68% of women have experienced abuse while out running, but only 5% have reported it to police.
While 82% of women said they have safety concerns when running and have taken measures to make themselves feel safer, such as carrying phones and tracking devices.
Laura-May said due to her previous experience, she "naturally predicted the worst" when a man asked her for directions recently while she was on her own.
She's aware of other runners in the group being targeted in other ways.
"It can be a wink, body language; some of the girls have been spat on," she said.
"It made me realise we don't feel safe going out for a run; that's when I started to think maybe we should get more people together, more numbers means we'll feel safer."
Laura-May has seen the group grow in the last three years, from around "five to 10 of us" to an online community of roughly 800 followers.
She and other members are taking on a 5k run from Cambridge towards Waterbeach today, as part of their regular meet-ups.
In January, Lowestoft MP Jess Asato opened a debate in Parliament around the need to improve women's safety while out running, walking, cycling and wheeling.
The Government said its latest action plan aims to help women and girls feel safe in open spaces, including by "relentlessly pursuing" perpetrators.
Laura-May hopes working with police to tackle abuse towards women will have a long-term impact on how female athletes - like runners - are seen in society.
"It might just be a verbal comment, but that comment later down the line leads to potentially assault or further harassment, so it's important to start changing the minds of younger men and changing behaviour over generations by educating them," she added.
"I think as a group of women who experience it daily, weekly, monthly, it's great we've been given this opportunity to speak up because it will hopefully be able to capture what it's like for those who fortunately don't have to experience it."