The foundation of our nation is based on the principle of equality of opportunity. Everybody should have equal opportunities to choose what they wish. Numerous trail-running athletes, including some of the most prominent ones, claim that there is not enough opportunity for LGTBQ+ and minorities.
ESPN published an article detailing how Coree Woltering and Ryan Montgomery – both distance runners who are gay – are trying to make trail running a “safe place” for people in minority and LGTBQ+ demographics. They claim that trail running is a place “where they see few people who look like them and say they have often been made to feel like it isn’t a space they are welcome in.”
Woltering said that he works so hard because “no one should experience barriers to taking part in nature’s playground.”
“I am openly gay and I’m Black. My big thing is [to get]Outdoors are home to more people of colour and LGBTQ+. Outdoors haven’t always been safe for LGBTQ+ people or those of color.
There’s a lot of generalizations in Woltering’s statements, without a lot of specifics as to how people in the trail running community have made him or others feel like they couldn’t participate in a sport based on their skin color or sexuality.
In order to assess whether or not this is even a remotely credible assessment – which it isn’t – we have to go back to the principle of equal opportunity.
Everybody has the option to choose whether they want to pursue sports. If they choose to pursue sports, then they must pick a sport. The general trend is that blacks choose football, basketball and baseball more often than whites. This could mean that outdoor sports might be less popular for them (the article highlighted the lack of data on trail running demographics).
This brings us to the second truth, which directly links into equality of opportunity. Just because someone has or should have an equal chance at pursuing something does not necessarily guarantee that they will get it.
There is no way to control whether blacks choose trail running over other sports. There is no way to control whether more blacks opt for football over trail running. The sport does not reveal whether it has excluded black people, or LGTBQ+ individuals. (By the way, if you watch any marathon ever, there will be plenty of people from black backgrounds striving for victory).
You would need concrete and credible testimonials from individuals or a list of undeniably racist policies that expressly prohibit these groups from joining (which there aren’t). Montgomery and Woltering only gave generalized examples. Any situations described by Montgomery in great detail didn’t sound like discrimination.
Non-white runners who are interested in trail running should read my advice. Start running on a trail. There is nothing other than your own desire preventing you from enjoying “nature’s playground.” Just don’t be the emotionally unstable sissies that Woltering and Montgomery apparently are.
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