"We're definitely trying to remove barriers to get more people to the start line. At the essence, that's it. Whatever those barriers happen to be, we're doing our best to try to remove those." - Matt Geofroy
Crossing Lines is an initiative focused on increasing representation and breaking down barriers for people of colour in the ultra-trail running community. Two of the co-founders, Matt Geofroy and Kortnee Borden, joined us to chat about the group and how they were inspired. They spoke about how much Parkdale Roadrunners meant to them and wanted to bring that inclusivity and energy to trail and ultra running.
Crossing Lines is looking to get more people of colour to start lines by addressing knowledge gaps, logistical challenges, and financial obstacles that might deter potential runners. The group collaborates with race directors to advocate for better diversity practices. They also organized a group of 30 athletes at Run Woodstock who competed in various distances. They had a chance to really absorb the whole experience on the Sunday morning after everyone had run when they organized a group brunch.
"Seeing everybody there on Sunday morning after the race, just so happy and trading stories. It was amazing. We had people from New York, New Orleans, BC, Toronto, and Barcelona, all connected. It was just phenomenal." - Kortnee Borden
It was an honour for us to have Kortnee and Matt on the cast to share about Crossing Lines. We’re grateful for their time and think you will enjoy the show as much as we did!
Learn about “Water First” here.
More about representation in Trail Running:
Running Industry Diversity Coalition
Racial Diversity in Trail Running Study
More Long Run’s:
Ep. 120 The Long Run. Featuring Keeley Milne
“I knew that I was going to die and that was made very clear to me by people in the hospital and by a doctor that I had seen. And I knew I had very limited time. I was having a lot of seizures. Whenever alcohol got out of my system, I would have a seizure. So I was having to drink, even though I didn't want to.”
Ep. 116 The Long Run. Featuring Tarrant Cross Child
“I would run all through there when I was younger and my grandfather knew I'd love to run, he would get me to round up the horses. So I'd have to go spend some time out there in the buttes rounding up the horses and bringing them into the corral. So it was actually out there where he really realized I loved running.”
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