No sign of the elite women in Amsterdam marathon media coverage
Why are races still reluctant to push women’s running?
words by Nanna Munnecke
photos by Ben Clement
Amsterdam marathon is going on right now and we are watching the live feed on Facebook — Bekele is in focus, trying to break course and ultimately world record — this is a big race. The camera follows the lead group and we watch them fly along the Amstel river. Commentators try to calculate and put the strategy in perspective — all as it should be — it’s exciting! But one thing is missing — there’s not a single clip of the elite women.
People start noticing fast in the live feed comments “Where are the women?” we ask — as do others — both men and women btw.
Karl jokes “Amazing how few spectators there are — maybe they are on the women’s route rather than the men’s route 🙈”
After 30K there’s still no sign of the women. The elite men are having an amazing race — it’s a joy to watch — but where are the women’s elite? Who made the choice to not have any focus on them? And what does this choice say about running? And what are the consequences for the sport?
Media still choose not to give any screen time to women’s racing
In autumn 2017 we wrote the org behind Frankfurt marathon when experiencing the same scenario — their reply was that the media has the control of what to show. The media do not reply. There was no immediate reply from Amsterdam Marathon in the live feed or the DM Facebook Messages.
If media controls the marathon showings, how come London and some US marathons managed to have a much more equal focus?
In the meantime, women’s running has exploded. More women are running , more women are pushing through in the sub-elite category , more women are pushing their boundaries, unlocking strength and running faster and further.
One guy on the FB live feed suggests that Bekele simply has the ‘lead’ also in the media priorities. Berlin had the almost guaranteed world record lined up — Kipchoge’s performance was outstanding and hyped for good reasons. Still, the race had time for the women’s elite.
Who does it different?
NYC marathon and Boston have recently succeeded in emphasising on the elite women – by changing the schedule to send them out on the course first, build momentum by using storytelling and experts. It is a visible difference – both men and women cheer for the women elite, they are present.
London is following – Paula Radcliffe is still the queen of LDN, they bring in experts to comment and the international focus on these races seems to help too.
And what does the lack of focus mean for women in sport?
Paula’s 2:15:25 record is 15 years old. In the meantime, women’s running has exploded. More women are running, more women are pushing through in the sub-elite category, more women are pushing their boundaries, unlocking strength and running faster and further.
If the race organisers do not care, if they put the women’s elite aside and hide the heroes, their battles, and their succeses — and if they defeat and keep ignoring the women’s category — then they actively keep a sport from developing.
But the record is not moving the same way as the men’s has — and the weak focus on the women’s elite is holding the sport in a deadlock. With less focus there are less spectators, less hype, and ultimately less development.
The women’s elite is forever battling the fact that no matter how fast they run, they will never catch up. Any competing runner knows what a psychological mindf*ck that is.
The very narrow minded idea, that only the winner is of interest, died as millions of runners line up in races throughout the year.
And it seems there is a reluctancy to acknowledge the women’s elite as a separate, yet equally respected elite field — with an equally interesting battle for speed.
Races and media have to acknowledge their responsibility
We have come across a race that does not celebrate the women’s finishers.
And races where the winning prize for women was less than half the one for men.
We see female runners whose salary is dependent on the number of spectators — left with no interest from media hence no channel for promoting.
We see amazing elite runners who are still anonymous as the media avoid telling their story, thereby not building a momentum for excitement nor relevating new perspective angles or points of view.
We see media coverage without experts who know the women’s elite
We still see media not bothering to highlight the accomplishments. Like Runnersworld.nl who — hours after the race — still hasn’t bothered to post anything about Bekele who won. Runnerworld.nl still focuses on the men’s race and national elite — also men’s division.
We still see a lack of interest in getting to know other runners than the hyper local. There’s a huge potential in storytelling — but it’s simply not a care.
If the race organisers do not care, if they put the women’s elite aside and hide the heroes, their battles, and their success — and if they defeat and keep ignoring the women’s category — then they actively keep a sport from developing.
If the media does not help push for more, make it possible for all the hard working elite runners to shine, and engage viewers and readers — then they actively keep the sport from developing
Nanna Munnecke, Co-founder of @Voltwomen
Aftermath / Learnings:
I took out Berlin from the part of the article mentioning them as a good example — Berlin is not better at all — see this link to Mario Farioli’s newsletter ‘The Morning shakeout’ and I assumed which one should not of course.
Comments on Voltwomen Instagram account suggests that Toronto Marathon did a good job last weekend.
Ultra de Mont Blanc also gets noticed for doing a good job focusing on running for both mens and womens categories — which makes me think of the fact that women and mens times gets closer with distance and therefore also mixes the results in a really interesting way.
The Kona Iron Man in Hawaii get a good share of comments for being really selective — even showing uninteresting footage of male athletes while the women’s category was breaking up and had several un counted for sport moments passed by production.
Runnersworld.nl continue to write that they ‘did’ feature women and send proof — but looking deeper into one of the two examples they sent it shows a lokal athlete and features her boyfriend.
Amsterdam marathon have written that they take the matter serious and will make it better for next year — I and thinking of a reply — most likely ‘How?’
The week after:
Frankfurt marathon was the exact same as Amsterdam. The race chose to follow the male elite group and the two fastest germans — leaving out the womens elite group completely and only give a fraction of focus as Meskerem Assefa ran towards the finish. She crushed the course record btw, but not once though out the race was there any camera on her or the two runners up— strong running — no attention.
