Ironman UK add an ‘Iron Girl’ event to their Ironman weekend and runners aren’t happy
Ironman UK have announced they will be adding a new event to their Bolton Ironman weekend - ‘Iron Girl’, a 5K fun run open to women of all abilities. The evening run is open to women aged 16 and up and is £10 to enter. It will join the three-day weekend schedule of events. This is the second time an Iron Girl event has happened in the UK.
Executive cabinet member for culture and sport in Bolton, Cllr John Byrne, told local news publications: “Just when you thought this annual event couldn’t get any bigger and better, it does.
“The addition of Iron Girl will be yet another feature to an already exciting weekend known as much for its festive atmosphere as for the feats of endurance from the athletes.
“This particular event opens up the Ironman weekend to even more people – not everyone wants to do an Ironman but some might quite fancy a 5k run with their friends."
Yet runners are not happy with the naming of the event, with some branding it ‘patronising’.
Really? 5k Iron girl how patronising! As a Ironman and non overtly feminist it is so bad 🤦🏻♀️
- Annette Quarry (@Quenid) January 16, 2019
Seriously. SERIOUSLY?
- Susie Chan (@Susie__Chan) January 17, 2019
Hi, I'm really confused about this, it's called 'girl', so not for grown women, but also not for under 16s. Who is this for?
- Clare (@clareypie) January 17, 2019
We're Women. Unless you're going to rebrand as Ironboys? No? Thought not.
- Jackie (@Saggar) January 17, 2019
We're Women. Unless you're going to rebrand as Ironboys? No? Thought not.
- Jackie (@Saggar) January 17, 2019
I'm all for encouraging women into sport, especially Ironman which is heavily male dominated, but have you considered that the name and branding of this event might come across as a little patronising? @Ironman_UK
- Lehna Gardiner (@LehnaLou) January 16, 2019
Others have suggested it’s the event that is important, not the name, encouraging more women to get involved in Ironmans.
Maybe, I believe that the low number of women doing ironman is something they want to change, so this is a first step to engage women
- The Endurance Store (@EnduranceCoach) January 16, 2019
This will get 1000s of extra women across the UK into cycling swimming & running if not triathlon.
If you’re able to do an Ironman, why would you be offended at this?
If you’re not able to do an Ironman, why would you be offended at this? 🤷🏼♂️- ThatRunnerMan (@thatrunnerman) January 17, 2019
Runner’s World has reached out to Ironman UK for comment.