There is a need for more research into women’s sport, as most of the recent research done is solely focused on male athletes. This was according to Tarrin van Niekerk, a professional ultra trail runner and Stellenbosch-based physiotherapist.
Van Niekerk hosted a ‘Run Brave’ event on 31 July, with a group of 15 in attendance. The event started with a women-only social run through the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve, after which the group gathered in the Balance Coffee Roastery for the Run Brave talk on women’s nutrition, according to Van Niekerk.
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Tarrin van Niekerk, an ultra trail runner, addressed a group of 15 female runners on the importance of nutrition and refuelling one’s body. “Run for yourself, fuel for yourself,” she said. PHOTO: Amy Lindstrom
“We’d like this whole group to have a butterfly effect […] to normalise […] eating right,” added Van Niekerk.
“This is our second Run Brave event, what we are trying to do here is to create awareness […] and bring more girls together,” said Emily Robertson, the event’s co-host and current doctoral student in exercise, sport and lifestyle medicine.
Demystifying the statistics
According to Robertson, the inspiration for the event came from a conversation between her and Van Niekerk on fuelling one’s body as an athlete.
“The [statistics] around the research of women’s fitness are terrifying, only 7% of the research in the sports science space done in the past few years is aimed towards women,” said Robertson.
“The studies that show that women need 90-120g of carbs per hour on a run were done on young, male athletes”, said Van Niekerk. “We go through seasons as women, we need different things during different stages,” she said.
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The Run Brave event included a women-only social run through the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. “Our mantra is ‘run like a girl’. We want to encourage girls to run bravely as women,” said Emily Robertson, a current sports science PhD student and co-host of the event. PHOTO: Amy Lindstrom
By women, for women
Another motivation for the event was to find other women who have a passion for running, according to Robertson.
“Within the women’s space, we always see men racing hard and women standing back a little bit […] but we are women, we have super powers and we are strong,” added Van Niekerk.
When approached by SMF News, Caylin Maree, a member of the Maties women’s hockey team, echoed the event’s sentiments. Food, she said, is a very important element of her training regiment as a female athlete.
“There is not a lot of information with regards to what you should eat before training sessions and how to ensure your body is getting what it needs in order to perform,” said Maree.
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Following the social run, attendees gathered in the Balance Coffee Roastery for coffee and banana bread before the talk. “We chose banana bread as the post-run refuel specifically to highlight the importance of carbs as a source of fuel for female athletes,” said Tarrin van Niekerk, a Stellenbosch-based physiotherapist and co-host of the Run Brave event. PHOTO: Amy Lindstrom