EDR #65 /Running Studies/ Laura Gubby: Women Trail Runners and Feelings of Empowerment and Vulnerability

This episode features an interview with Dr Laura Gubby of Canterbury Christ Church University. 

I got in touch with Laura after reading her article, “Women trail runners’ encounters with vulnerability to male harassment in rural off-road spaces”, which she co-authored with Joanne Hill in 2024. 

I guess I was curious about her research because I wanted to think more about the kind of privilege male runners can experience by virtue of their gender. This article fits in with my thinking that running isn’t always an egalitarian or equitable sport for everyone, all of the time: women runners need to negotiate feelings of empowerment and vulnerability at the same time while performing the ‘morally good’ practice of looking after their health in green spaces. 

So, in this interview, I asked Laura about her own running practice, her research, her use of the work of scholars such as Henri Lefebvre and Doreen Massey, what made her informants feel vulnerable or threatened during a run and how male runners could be more aware of how their presence might or might not affect other runners. Anyway, that’s all for now. I hope you enjoy this episode. 

Until next time 

Doi doi

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• Shout out to the legend Paul Waye, who was featured in Episode 52, who has almost finished his 12 Steden Plog: running more than 42km per day, visiting 12 cities and picking up trash along the way. Always with an immovable smile on his face and with a sense of humour as he runs through the Netherlands in a banana suit
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