Tjejmilen

Last weekend we travelled down to Stockholm. We had booked the trip nearly a half year ago as my wife had entered herself into Tjejmilen. For those unfamiliar with Tjejmilen it is an annual 10km road running race around one of the Stockholm suburbs, for women only. For some reason it is insanely popular in Sweden, drawing regular entry numbers in excess of 30,000 each year. I'm not quite sure why this race has attained such status, as there are plenty of other "women only" 10k races held through Sweden during the year, including in Stockholm. But Tjejmilen is the big one. Maybe the popularity has been the result of a self fueling fire. As the numbers have increased, so have the ability levels expanded. Today you can enter Tjejmilen with virtually no training and know that you'll not finish an embarassing half hour after everyone else. Not mater what your ability level is, you'll always have company along the way.

 

Our own travel arrangements were not great. Originally they were fine, but then they turned quickly into a pretty big cock up. The lesson there is, of course, that once you've made plans you stick to them. Sometimes trying to save a couple of dollars can end up costing more. But that's all in the past now.

 

The event itself was well organised. I guess it has to be with 30,000 runners. A couple of odd things stood out. Firstly, they had a good supply of toilets for the runners. Naturally there was a queue, but it looked like it was only maybe 10 or minutes minutes long at worst. That was fine. But, as everyone was going for a last minute pee, they could have placed the toilets a bit closer to the starting line, instead of being about half a kilometer away. There was a fair bit of panic on the faces of people coming out of the toilets and then sprinting off to try and find their starting place. They could have put a few extra toilets a little closer. A logistics suggestion for the future.

 

The other thing that stood out for me, and I've seen this at a few Swedish running events, is the lack of respect shown towards female athletes. Not rudeness, just not respectful. At the venue, they had a lot of stalls set up. It was a bit weird as, instead of grouping all the stores together, they were kind of just chucked in all around the place. You had to do a lot of walking around, which isn't ideal after having just run a 10k race, and it was hard to see what the store was selling until you got right up to them. which led to the core of my complaint. The only clothing on sale was Nike, who presumably had bought exclusive sales rights through spnsorship. That's what pisses me off about Nike, they are able to buy their way into everywhere. Anyway, if you wanted to buy any article of clothing which was Neon Pink, Neon Green, Neon Yellow, or Neon Blue, then the Nike tent was the place to go. It was Neon Mecca. However, if you wanting to buy any clothing which was actually going to be of some aid to you when running, you were shit out of luck. This was just a fashion store which had everything to make you look good and nothing to help you run or train better. And that was it, there was no other choice. Just that Nike crap. You needed proper shoes, or some calf muscle support ? Take the bus back into town and visit one of the running stores.

 

Leaving the Nike advertising juggernaut to one side, let's look at what else was on offer for the athletes at Tjemilen. Weight Loss advisory stalls (of various types), skin lotion sellers, travel agents selling seaside family holiday packages, beauty treatment packages. The crowning glory was the stall selling Dog Food.

 

For me, the entire setup was very disrespectful. This wasn't a gathering of 30,000 women, it was a gathering of 30,000 runners. If this had been an event for men, or even a mixed gender event, the commercial focus would have been entirely different. There would have been various different running  shoe sellers, a proper running clothing store, usually a couple of compression clothing sellers, energy and recovery food packet suppliers, and so forth. Stuff that people both want and need, and appropriate for the event. They certainly wouldn't be pumping out "It's Raining Men" over the public address system the entire time. And the frickin compulsary aerobics dancing prior to the start. I didn't see too many Kenyans dancing with their arms in the air while waiting for the starting gun at the London Marathon. So why are the organisers automatically assuming that women competitors are any less focused on the job in hand ? Here were 30,000 women who had worked dammed hard to get to the start line and were being treated by the event organisers and stall hawkers as nothing more than "little housewives". The winning time this year was around 32 minutes for 10km. There are piss all men in Sweden who can run that fast, so I think that deserves a bit of respect.

 

Sweden has always been very strong in promoting gender equality so it is disappointing see an event like this which has such a high profile and yet clearly doesn't regard the female competitors  as being serious athletes. Maybe it doesn't help that some of the elite Swedish athletes, who are often shown competing on television, seem to spend more time worrying about their nail colour and body jewellery than they do about training. I realise that public image is the key to selling yourself in a commercial sporting world, but it doesn't help the case in sending mixed messages to the general population.

 

A final word to 25,000 of the 30,000 women who turned up last Saturday. Great Job but, perhaps when it is 25 deg C and you are going to run 10km in the middle of the day, leave your full length black tights at home. Nike or not, It's too hot for them. It was funny being able to spot all the Swedish women running in New York in similar conditions. They were the only ones running in long black tights, and the only ones fainting from heat exhaustion at the end. Think about it, ladies. There's a time and a place.