A women's safety fun run derailed by reports of further assaults on participants
Several women at a Take Back the Track running event in Alice Springs have reported inappropriate behaviour by a group of young people on Wednesday evening, which has left organisers deeply shocked.
The event was organised by three running and walking groups in Alice Springs and was in direct response to previous assaults against women running in public spaces around Alice Springs in the past fortnight.
One of the event organisers, Morgana Garland-Fernandez said she was feeling happy and proud about the event along the banks of the iconic Todd River, but "it was like whiplash" when returning runners told her more assaults had happened.
"It is our understanding that a group of four to eight children and teenagers ranging from eight to 14 years old were moving along the bike path," she said.
Alice Springs resident Amiuus Lennie said he saw one young person slap a woman on the bottom.
"She kept running and sort of laughed it off, but [I thought] I'm actually going to say something to the young fellas because that's where this stuff stops," he said.
"That's not right," he told the group. "You fellas need to stop each other doing that, you need to talk to each other about this because that's gotta stop."
Ms Garland-Fernandez said she and several people called the police after the allegations surfaced.
The Take Back the Track run and walk was planned after a woman reported she was indecently assaulted while running at 3:45pm last week along the Todd River by a male riding a bike.
Three other women alleged similar offending on the same day after police put out a call for information.
A 14-year-old male has been arrested in relation to the incidents.
In a separate incident, a woman reported being followed by a man, who threw rocks at her and her dog, in scrubland on Grevillea Drive around 11:40am last month.
NT Police said it was investigating and the woman and dog did not sustain physical injuries.
Ms Garland-Fernandez, who is also the founder of Alice Springs women's running group The Dusty Divas, said women in central Australia were afraid.
"Whenever we hear of an incident like this, that immediately just makes us feel fearful … that's just outrageous. We should be safe."
President of the Alice Springs Running and Walking Club Katie Stroud said Alice Springs had a strong running community and many women would run 30 to 100 kilometres a week.
"For most of us, two-thirds of that's by ourselves, and to walk out the door and have those thoughts in your mind, it's taking up head space," she said.
About 150 people attended the Take Back the Track event on Wednesday and raised around $3,000 to buy personal safety alarms for female runners feeling worried or vulnerable.
Ms Stroud said she carried an alarm when running.
"It has a 130 decibel siren on it … there's a little pull tag on it, so that obviously sets the siren," she said.
"You can test it to make sure it works before you go on your run because you'd hate for it not to be working when you need it."
The incidents have prompted conversation around the use of pepper spray, after the Northern Territory government announced it would trial the spray for the public to use as protection later this year.
Ms Garland-Fernandez said she could see the value of pepper spray, but she personally would not want to use it.
"I can definitely see the value in having something to protect yourself when running alone, and I do know of a bunch of women who will have those same feelings," she said.
"It will help them to feel less vulnerable, but I see [pepper spray] being problematic on a social level.
"Alice Springs has enough social issues, and I worry about the misuse of pepper spray."
Ms Stroud said it would make her feel "a little bit better" carrying pepper spray for self-protection, but she still would not feel entirely safe.
"They could grab it out of my hand and use it against me," she said.
Take Back the Track is a campaign launched at the start of 2025 to bring awareness to women and gender diverse people's safety when running alone.
Founder Sissy Austin started the movement after being violently attacked while running.
She said it was "heartbreaking" that women and gender diverse runners all over Australia did not feel safe to run in public spaces.
"At a national, state and territory level, there has not been the acknowledgement that this is an issue," Ms Austin said.
"More research and data gathering around it needs to be done, and that's what we're trying to do through the movement of Take Back the Track by gathering and keeping tabs of how many attacks there have been on women and gender diverse runners."
Ms Austin said she was sending "love and strength and solidarity" to the Alice Springs community.
Ms Garland-Fernandez said women should be able to operate in public spaces the same way men do.
"It shouldn't matter what time of day, where we are, what we are wearing, whether there's daylight or moonlight," she said.
"A lot of women are feeling very upset, very angry and scared, but more importantly than that, this is not going to stop us from running.
"Running is what we do. It's what we love. We're passionate about running, and we're going to keep running."
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