By Kelsi Jones
AFRO Intern
The Baltimore Women’s Classic, America’s second oldest women’s 5k race, started bright and early on June 23.The all-women’s 5k race sponsored by MedStar Health featured women from all walks of life who came to support women ranging in ages from 12 to 70.
Participants came from as far as London to participate in this one of a kind race, where thousands of women – women of different shapes and sizes – raced for women. They came to support women and raise money for the House of Ruth Maryland, a foundation that strives to end violence against women and their children.
House of Ruth’s mission is about confronting attitudes, behaviors, and breaking systems that encourage violence against women. They were founded in May 1977 by a group of women in organizations, religious groups, service providers, and elected officials. Their goal was to provide a safe haven for victims of domestic violence and their kids. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCAD) 1 in 3 women have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. This consists of an assortment of behaviors including slapping, shoving, and pushing.
The House of Ruth is the Baltimore Classic’s main beneficiary and is one of the main causes that the women of this race were supporting.
Florencia Carrizo, who works with House of Ruth, explained how it’s important to host events catered towards women. “We are a non-profit that helps with domestic violence or victims of intimate partner violence and being able to have the community’s support, give back,” she said. “And being able to talk about these really hard topics is the reason why we’re here and this is a really great event that focuses on women which is a very big topic at House of Ruth.”
According to the National Library of Medicine domestic violence is the most common form of violence against women. It affects women across their life span in every part of the world.
It’s important to bring awareness, Carrizo said, to topics like these because it’s seldom discussed.
That is why the Baltimore Women’s Classic is such a significant race.
Nicole Allain, a participant of the race, said she and her running partner Quajalyn, made it their goal to finish 50 races before they turned 50. They have a window of 14 months.
The Baltimore Classic, Allain said, is one of their favorites, for a number of reasons:
“because this is an empowering race for black women,” she said. “ You see all generations, shapes, sizes, but it’s a race primarily for women by women and you can’t beat a race like that because it tells us that we know that women are superheroes.”
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