Run The Secret Marathon 3K today to support safe running communities

In 2016, Alberta filmmaker Kate McKenzie travelled to Afghanistan to make a documentary about that country’s only marathon. But she couldn’t tell anyone what she was doing, to avoid endangering its female participants, who were discouraged and even threatened for wanting to run. Once McKenzie was back home and able to talk about what she’d been up to, she was shocked to hear many Canadian women say that they often didn’t feel safe when running, even in their own communities.

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When McKenzie met John Stanton of the Running Room at the Ottawa 10K the following year and shared this with him, he offered to help her create a running event that would bring the universal issues of safety and inclusiveness to light, not just in Afghanistan but right here in Canada. And so the Secret Marathon 3K was born.

This year’s event is 100 per cent virtual, and participants can complete their 3Km run or walk on their own route, any time on March 3, just ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8. The run has partnered with the Marathon of Afghanistan, Girl Guides of Canada and Canadian Women For Women in Afghanistan, allowing them to have both a local and global impact in building safe and inclusive communities around the world. Organizers have also partnered with Katherine Switzer, who was the first woman to officially run in the Boston Marathon in 1967, which was at the time considered a men’s-only race. She was physically attacked by the race director for wearing a bib number in the race, and that moment revolutionized the sports world and launched her career in creating opportunities on all fronts for women.

Sign up right now for #TheSecret3K and go out and walk or run 3K! You are supporting women around the world who do not have the freedom to do that. At the same time, you are supporting @261Fearless' https://t.co/MLcUWyiH06#261Fearless#AdidasWomen#AdidasRunning#adidas pic.twitter.com/P2FiozVah2

— Kathrine Switzer (@KVSwitzer) March 3, 2021

“It’s taken on a life of its own,” McKenzie says, “due in huge part to the running community that’s rallied around this, and who said ‘we want everyone to be free to run.'”

For this year’s virtual event, you can register as an individual, a team or even as a school, if you’re a teacher or principal. Runners from Canada and around the world are encouraged to participate, and the Secret 3K has had participants from 23 different countries in previous years. On the website, you can download your own race bib and completion certificate, as well as a custom soundtrack to listen to while you run. All day today there is a Facebook Live event with videos, interviews, and a guided warmup, and people who tune in will be eligible to win a door prize.

“In honour of the Marathon of Afghanistan, we keep the race route secret,” McKenzie adds. “We want to give people an opportunity to reflect on the fact that that is part of the reality for our friends in Afghanistan.”

There will also be an encore screening of the documentary on March 6 at 5 p.m. PCT, 6 p.m. MST and 8 p.m. EST.

Click here for more information, and to sign up.