Palouse Road Runners and our board members believe in the power of running to bring us together in common humanity; however, we recognize that there are injustices that need to be addressed before this can happen. As an organization, we strongly stand in solidarity with BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) communities and condemn racism and inequality which has for far too long stood as a barrier for our running community to be accessible to and inclusive of all. Following the murder of Ahmaud Arbery while running in his neighborhood, and so many others slain in outdoor spaces where they should feel safe, we pledge to support and listen to our BIPOC club and community members, and to educate ourselves to be better – as leaders, colleagues, friends, and advocates. We also pledge to improve diversity in our sport and to look for avenues to bring the life-changing impact of running to all those who are interested.
Palouse Road Runners welcomes all those with an interest in running and a healthy lifestyle in the Moscow/Pullman community and beyond to our races and events where we strive to foster an inclusive environment for all individuals that PRR engages. Many aspects of the running community are overwhelmingly dominated by white runners. We see that we must do better to foster inclusive space and make active changes to our programming in order to reach out to both underrepresented members of our community and those who might interact with the club through races and other events. We acknowledge that everywhere we run in this country is on land stolen from Indigenous people and that outdoor spaces, trails in particular, are often unwelcoming or inaccessible to members of the BIPOC community. We have created a small group task force within our board to address ways that we as a club can promote safety, access, and inclusion in the spaces we occupy as an organization and for runners in our community in general. This group is also tasked with developing a comprehensive club diversity statement based on PRR’s mission. We invite our membership to stay tuned for ways to be involved in this effort as it unfolds and matures.
On this, Global Running Day, PRR publicly commits to growth and positive change. We look forward to improving our club with our current membership and widening our reach to share a love of running with those who may not have previously felt welcome. Diversity is key to advancement and we hope you will join us in solidarity and action in moving forward to increase access and equity in running on the Palouse.
