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Hurdles remain to broader participation

This file photo taken on November 06, 2016 shows Mary Keitany of Kenya crossing the finish line to win the Women's Division during the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon. PHOTO | TIMOTHY A. CLARY |

What you need to know:

  • Sunday's marathon may be a chance for New York to come together as one after this week's terror attack but running remains largely the preserve of wealthier white Americans.
  • While stars of the country's most popular spectator sports such as basketball and baseball often hail from ethnic minorities, experts say the cost of equipment and other factors such as fear of being pulled over by police often act as obstacles to active participation.
  • "We often think of the sports arena as relatively open and accommodating for people of color in the United States," said sociology lecturer Douglas Hartmann, citing the success of African-American stars in both basketball and American football.

NEW YORK

Sunday's marathon may be a chance for New York to come together as one after this week's terror attack but running remains largely the preserve of wealthier white Americans.

While stars of the country's most popular spectator sports such as basketball and baseball often hail from ethnic minorities, experts say the cost of equipment and other factors such as fear of being pulled over by police often act as obstacles to active participation.

"We often think of the sports arena as relatively open and accommodating for people of color in the United States," said sociology lecturer Douglas Hartmann, citing the success of African-American stars in both basketball and American football.

"Yet these assumptions and beliefs miss the fact that when you step back and take a look at the broader demographics of sport participation, white Americans still have far more access and involvement in athletics than other groups.

"This is for almost all other sports and at all levels of participation. The running community ... is simply an excellent example of this larger dynamic."

Many of the leading runners in Sunday's marathon are expected to be Africans, with Kenya's former world record holder Wilson Kipsang and last year's winner Ghirmay Ghebreslassie of Eritrea among the favorites.

But a survey last year by the website Running USA found that blacks represent only eight percent of the overall number of people who run regularly in the US while representing 13 percent of the population.

DECEPTIVELY EXPENSIVE

Hispanics meanwhile account for only six percent of the running fraternity while they make up 18 percent of the population.

"Running and racing is, in many ways, connected with a middle-class, mainstream and largely white culture and lifestyle," said Hartmann.

"It is also, I think, deceptively expensive and time consuming to participate in. These factors make it difficult for others, especially if they are already perceived as somehow different or as outsiders, to break into."

The first New York marathon was held in 1970 and featured only 127 runners but the event has since ballooned amid a surge in popularity for running and around 40,000 are expected to race on Sunday.

But Tony Reed, executive director of the National Black Marathoners Association, said many blacks had been put off running by a range of factors, including the fear of being pulled over by police.

"If you are a black person and you are running in a predominantly white community, it's not unusual for the police to stop and ask you: 'What are you doing here?'"

Reed said that while the cost of going for a casual run was not prohibitive, it was a different matter to afford the equipment needed to compete in a marathon.

"There's a difference between running and racing," he said.

Reed's association has been working to fund black runners competing in a number of marathons — including in Boston, Baltimore and Dallas — and he is confident the situation will soon change.

"The next boom (in distance running) is going to be the ethnic minorities," he said.

His hopes were echoed by Jay Ell Alexander who heads an association called Black Girls Run! which wants to increase participation in sport among young women in a racial group where obesity levels are nearly twenty percentage points above the national average.

CHANGING STEREOTYPES

Her group organizes weekly fun runs for women who struggle to find time for exercise as part of a drive to "change the statistics and stereotypes about black women being unhealthy."

"Typically and culturally, black women are usually the caretakers. We usually put ourselves second behind taking care of the family, taking care of our husbands, so we don't have a lot of time at the end of the day to dedicate to going out for a three-mile run," she said.

"We put our exercise and our health on the backburner so culturally, we have just created barriers that keep us from being healthy and active."

While the cost of running equipment is cheaper than gear for other sports, Alexander said the costs could still be prohibitive.

"Running can be an expensive sport when you start signing up for races or purchasing running shoes that average $120 to $150. Running is definitely not cheap if you do it right."