Within the 2023 adidas business “The Ridiculous Run,” a younger lady steps right into a darkish city avenue to start out an evening run. She opens her telephone to see her location, after which joins a bunch of different girls flanked by bikes, vehicles, and even a uniformed guardian on a horse.
This may increasingly look ridiculously pointless, the business tells us, however it’s no much less absurd than the 92% of ladies who really feel unsafe once they run. That statistic, which comes from a extensively shared adidas survey of 9,000 runners throughout 9 nations, is greater than only a quantity for Dena Lewis, an Atlanta-based entrepreneur and ultrarunner.
Lewis skilled her first assault in 2010 whereas jogging a mile from her residence. The identical man confirmed up at her home 3 days later. Shaken by what had occurred to her, she stopped operating for a 12 months.
“The world felt scarier,” she instructed GearJunkie. “I bear in mind placing on my sneakers and pondering, ‘I might actually pay somebody to run with me proper now’.”
And that’s precisely the service Lewis is now providing by Working Mate, an app she says is “like Uber for runners.” With a rising group of on-call operating companions vetted by background checks, Lewis has basically turned the premise of adidas’ business right into a potential resolution for anybody trying to keep protected whereas operating.
The app continues to be new, launching in seven main U.S. cities in 2024, together with Austin, Boston, Tampa, Atlanta, Salt Lake Metropolis, Denver, and Charleston, S.C.
App customers should pay about $25 per run, and it’s at the moment hottest amongst girls vacationers who need some additional safety whereas operating in one other metropolis, Lewis stated. However she’d love for the service to finally be free for any lady who desires it.
“It’s my mission to maintain individuals protected,” Lewis stated. “I don’t ever need a lady to need to undergo what I went by.”
Working Mate: How It Works
When you’ve ever used an app from the gig financial system, be it Uber, DoorDash, or Instacart, you then’ll probably grasp Working Mate fairly shortly.
When you’ve downloaded the free app, a easy interface begins the background verify course of. It’s a compulsory step for each runners and the “operating mates” who receives a commission to point out up. You’ll additionally must make a profile, which permits runners and companions to view a couple of key particulars, like operating tempo and age.
It’s potential to request a run on brief discover, which comes with a 15-minute threshold for assembly a associate. However a lot of the app’s runs are scheduled forward of time, in response to Lewis. Customers can set their desired run location and see the out there “mates” for that space. Run occasions can fluctuate however don’t often final greater than an hour.
Whereas a majority of these requesting a associate are girls (70%), the opposite 30% of customers are males, although they might have completely different causes, in response to Lewis.
“The boys who’re signed up as runners simply need a operating buddy. It’s not about security,” Lewis stated. “The boys who’ve signed up as mates are sometimes involved about somebody of their household, like a mom or a sister … I like the truth that we now have so many males signed up on our platform.”
‘We Take It for Granted’
CT White “isn’t the quickest,” he stated, however he loves the group that he’s discovered amongst runners in St. Petersburg, Fla. In only a 12 months, he went from a sluggish walker to a daily runner to a member of the Pinellas Working Membership’s government board.
He realized that operating has helped so many individuals “discover themselves,” together with himself, and he thinks everybody deserves that chance.
“Defending entry to being outdoors is important to our psychological well being,” he instructed GearJunkie this week. “I see this app and I feel, ‘Sure, I would like my individuals to really feel that approach’.”
As Lewis works to develop Working Mate’s presence, she’s constructing partnerships with grassroots operating teams just like the Pinellas Working Membership and native leaders like White.
The app is already out there in close by Tampa, and White says he desires to assist construct the community of “mates” essential to make it viable in St. Petersburg as properly. He associated a narrative about his greatest buddy in Tampa, a lady runner who has instructed him tales of males following her on bikes or sending on-line messages about discovering her after seeing Strava posts.
“As males, we take it with no consideration. We don’t have to consider going operating at night time alone,” stated White, a self-described 6-foot-5 large. “A few of these girls are shook for days from these items. I’ve seen it. It could actually appear innocent, however it’s not.”
The numbers bear that out.
A 2021 RunRepeat.com survey of three,774 individuals discovered that almost 46% of ladies runners have skilled harassment. Girls runners are additionally thrice as more likely to endure that harassment than males, in response to the identical knowledge. Of the 38% of ladies who reported harassment within the adidas survey, half stated they’d been adopted or acquired sexist feedback.
“What sort of world do I need to go away for my nieces?” White stated. “If we now have the flexibility to permit girls to really feel protected the best way we really feel protected, we now have an obligation to do this.”
A ‘Candy Spot’ Amongst Vacationers
Working mates like White, who receives a commission about $10-15 a run by the app, are 60% males and 40% girls. There’s additionally a reasonably equal pool of each runners and potential companions. Of the 1,664 present customers, about 55% are mates and 45% are runners on the lookout for a associate.
Thus far, the app has discovered a “candy spot” amongst girls vacationers, Lewis stated. Whereas Lewis doesn’t count on most girls to make use of the app greater than three to 5 occasions a month, extra frequent customers are often feminine vacationers accustomed to operating 3-5 miles outside a number of occasions every week.
“That’s sometimes when girls need to use a service like this,” she stated. “In the event that they’re going to pay a price for a health club shut by, they’d most likely moderately be outdoors anyhow.”
However security isn’t the one cause to make use of Working Mate. Many ladies bow out of operating golf equipment as a result of they don’t really feel comfy, Lewis stated, and like a “transactional course of” for locating companions.
Whatever the cause girls use it, Lewis hopes to develop the app’s availability to extra cities. She’s additionally spearheading the Runner Security Summit, an ongoing collection of occasions that educate girls on self-defense.
In the end, she’d prefer to make sufficient company partnerships to maintain paying “mates,” whereas making Working Mate fully free to customers. Given how receptive the group has been to date, Lewis feels optimistic, she stated.
“I simply was not anticipating to have the overwhelming response that we get and proceed to get,” Lewis stated. “Girls are saying thanks for giving us a voice.”
