bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Mary Hui

Seven-time Hungarian ultramarathon champion Viktória Makai was doing her regular Sunday run along a road near her home in Budapest in October when a man tackled her. She screamed and tried to escape, but he beat her head bloody and then sexually assaulted her.
Thankfully, Makai’s husband managed to find his wife in time. He forced the attacker away, and immediately took her to the hospital.
The assailant, who was arrested that the same day, was no stranger. He worked at a store near their home.
“I recognised him. He greeted me every morning with a smile on his face,” Makai said after the incident.
Two days after the attack, mother-of-two Makai posted a photo of her bloodied running shirt on Facebook. She thanked her husband for saving her life.

Soon after she was released from hospital Makai launched a campaign called ‘Run Away!’ to raise awareness of violence against women. Featured in the campaign are powerfully raw photos of Makai, her eyes still bruised and swollen.
“Victims speak out,” she said in a statement. “That’s what I do. More and louder!”
Makai hopes the campaign will be a source of strength and momentum to advance women’s safety around the world.
“I want to be in control of what happens around me and what I am aware of,” she said. “I refuse to walk with my eyes closed! Human stories incite human emotions and inspire actions that can shape our world.”
Podcast: gender equality in trail running with Valerie Lagarde – The Adventure Trail
Makai’s story underline a stark truth: running while female has always brought with it its own risks and realities. An unfortunate fact that confronts us is that Makai’s story is not the first, nor will it be the last, of abuse and violence against women.

A few months before the attack against Makai, a 20-year-old student at the University of Iowa, Mollie Tibbetts, vanished after going for a run. Her body was found in a field a month later.
Her death sparked a huge conversation in the United States and beyond about the fears and harassment that female runners have to endure.
Runners used the hashtag #MilesforMollie to dedicate their runs in her memory, but also to draw attention to the urgent need to keep women safe in all situations.

In a recent piece for Outside magazine, writer Tatum Dooley takes issue with how controversial Japanese author Haruki Murakami describes the pain of running in his book, What I Talk About when I Talk About Running. He describes a group of girls running past him “like the wind”, with “a sort of aggressive challenge emanating from them”, and notes that “these girls probably don’t know as much as I do about pain”.
Dooley corrects Murakami by offering him a fuller interpretation of pain. “When Murakami talks of suffering, he’s referring to physical pain. I know that kind of pain; all runners do,” she writes. “What Murakami doesn’t know is the emotional pain of anticipating harassment, inventing ways to avoid the inevitable, and imagining worst-case scenarios.”
Gender diversity in trail running: Andre Blumberg only accepts one man for every woman on 298km ultramarathon
I have never been actively threatened while out on a run. That is not to say that I have not felt fear. I remember running on the wooded trails of Rock Creek Park in Washington, one morning last year when I heard a loud, aggressive shout from ahead. It sent my heart rate skyrocketing and I turned around, running as fast as I could back out to the road. My heart was still pounding when I got home.
And I have certainly had my share of being honked at and catcalled. I’ve had a hiker say to his friends as I ran past, “Look at her go, she’s got the looks and the body.”
And I’ve had another hiker say to his friend in front of him, after he had been told to watch out because I was running through, “I don’t want to watch out. I want to watch her.”
Neither of those remarks were particularly crude or terrifying. But they are stark reminders that as women runners, we are watched, and that as women runners, we have to watch our backs.


Health benefits of mugwort and why it’s big in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine

Should you eat more fibre? Experts on how much you need and what foods provide lots of it

Style Edit: Noble Panacea CEO Céline Talabaza on science, sustainability and women in STEM

How 71-year-old yoga teacher Argie Ligeros looks and feels so much younger than her age

Wellness

Running in fear: the brutal realities confronting women brought to light in new movement

Hungarian ultramarathoner Viktória Makai shows her injuries after being attacked while out running. Photos: Sportágválasztó

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Book by Haruki Murakami.

Photos: Sportágválasztó

Big Backyard Ultra – the race that has no end – proves running is all in the mind

A runner in the fields. Photo: Mary Hui

Sport

Outdoor

Trail Running

Hong Kong

Opinion

Comment

Hungarian ultramarathon champion Viktória Makai launches a campaign called ‘Run Away!’ to raise awareness of violence against women
Her story is not the first, nor will it be the last, of abuse and violence against women


Hungarian ultramarathon champion Viktória Makai launches a campaign called ‘Run Away!’ to raise awareness of violence against women


Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

Trail Mix

Trail Mix | Running in fear: the brutal realities confronting women brought to light in new movement

Hungarian ultramarathon champion Viktória Makai launches a campaign called ‘Run Away!’ to raise awareness of violence against women Her story is not the first, nor will it be the last, of abuse and violence against women

Hungarian ultramarathon champion Viktória Makai launches a campaign called ‘Run Away!’ to raise awareness of violence against women

Her story is not the first, nor will it be the last, of abuse and violence against women