Latest news with #barging
The Independent
19-07-2025
- The Independent
There's an epidemic of women being barged by men while running
The first shove happened early on. Definitely within the first kilometre. It was subtle and maybe even a bit gentle. Like it could've easily been a mistake: maybe he tripped and accidentally pushed his shoulder into my arm. Perhaps it happened so quickly he didn't even notice, which is why he must not have stopped to apologise. He might've mistaken me for a lamppost. That was how I rationalised it, anyway. But then came the second shove. And then the third. And fourth. In total, seven men either barged past or into me that Sunday while I was running a 10km race. Yes, I counted. As a longtime runner, I'm used to going it alone. A quick 5km loop in my local park here, a slightly longer jog to clear the cobwebs on a hangover there. It's rare that I do it with anyone else, let alone in a race format. But last weekend, I decided to switch things up and take part in Saucony 's annual 10km race through central London alongside 17,000 others. Music was blasting through the streets, which had been closed off specially. There were choirs, live DJs, and plenty of people cheering us on as we ran past the London Eye, Big Ben and Piccadilly Circus. It was great fun. Except for the barging. The run took me 51 minutes and I found it genuinely astonishing that during that time, I was barged into so much. Not one of the men who did it apologised, nor did they even seem to register that they'd almost knocked me right over. It wasn't exactly like the roads were mega busy, either; participants' start times for the race had been staggered according to pace. I never felt like I was too close to anyone, even when I did decide to try to speed up towards the end as my favourite Linkin Park song came on (don't mock my running playlist). In other words: there really was no need to push past anyone to get ahead. And yet, I'm told that this kind of thing happens a lot. Female friends of mine who run regularly in races and clubs have told me in the past that they've had it happen to them more times than they can count and have simply got used to it. 'It's literally every time I do a race,' said one friend who regularly takes part in marathons and 10km races. 'There's a part of me that thinks they should put men and women in separate races it's that bad. All these men just assume you can't keep up with them, and so they run past and move you out of the way.' Splitting races according to gender is one possible solution. But surely the more obvious one would simply be telling male runners to be a little more dignified. It's not the tallest order, is it? I'm almost certain this applies to only a minority of male runners. But that doesn't necessarily make it any better; all it takes is a few shoves to feel like you're being literally pushed out of doing something you love. It's not like this is the first time female runners have raised concerns, either. One in five women is concerned about harassment while exercising outdoors, according to Sport England's This Girl Can campaign. This can take myriad forms, from catcalling and wolf-whistling to pedestrians trying to block your path, all of which have happened to me several times while running. As if that wasn't bad enough, astonishingly, one in 10 women have been spat on by men while running, according to a survey of 1,500 female runners conducted by Metro earlier this year. 'After sharing what had happened in a small Facebook group for women in media, 80 women replied in less than 24 hours to say it had happened to them too,' wrote Alice Giddings in a piece for Metro after having been spat on by men while running on two separate occasions. 'Once through the safety of my front door, I called my mum and cried before stripping off, washing all my clothes and standing under a steaming hot shower for half an hour, still trying to process what had happened,' she added. Like many women, I use running to escape the anxieties and stressors of my daily life. I'm on the move. I'm breathing in fresh air. I'm dancing in my head – yes, there's also a lot of Robyn on the playlist. Nobody can disturb, let alone touch, me. Hence why these frankly bizarre male interventions are so distressing. Women shouldn't have to tolerate this kind of harassment anywhere. But least of all when we're doing one of the few things we do just for ourselves. Running is supposed to be enjoyable, fun, and most importantly, peaceful. Let's keep it that way.
CBC
15-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Backup plan for N.W.T. barge season underway, says gov't
The N.W.T. government plans to use the N'Dulee ferry crossing near Wrigley as a base to ship goods up the Mackenzie River to Sahtu communities, if barges can't make it up the river again this summer. "It's still up in the air," Terry Camsell, the director of Marine Transportation Services (MTS), said of the plan — which hinges on water levels. The barge season usually runs from June to October. Each year, barges deliver supplies and fuel to communities that otherwise aren't accessible at this time of the year. In the last two years, low water levels worsened by severe drought have forced multiple barge cancellations. Camsell said this season, he is hopeful, as water levels are about 30 centimetres higher than they were at this time last year. He said Marine Transportation Services is monitoring and working closely with the N.W.T. Department of Environment and Climate Change's hydrologists to determine whether barging will be viable this year. Camsell said the whole system depends on the Canadian Coast Guard, which places buoys on the river. That's critical for marine vessels to navigate safely. "If they can't do that because [of] low water, then we can't operate," Camsell said. Jeremy Hennessy, a spokesperson for the Canadian Coast Guard, said in an email that it is a little early to say if there will be any barge cancellations — with ice still on Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River, the coast guard has not yet begun installing buoys. "[The Canadian Coast Guard] will assess water levels once the ice is off the river and begin its spring buoy tending operations when it is safe to do so," Hennessy said. If the water levels are low, Hennessy said the coast guard will "adjust its operations as necessary to reflect the conditions of the river." What if barges can't operate? In normal conditions, Camsell said, goods are usually trucked from Enterprise to Hay River, since the railway service closed down. From there, they are loaded onto MTS barges and are shipped to communities along the Mackenzie River. Camsell said MTS and Canadian Coast Guard ships are stationed in Hay River. When water levels are low in Great Slave Lake, getting through the rapids around Fort Providence becomes a problem. In such conditions, they are unable to operate on the entire Mackenzie River. "So we physically can't get down the rapids to get to Fort Simpson and the N'Dulee ferry crossing," Camsell said. He said the backup plan — trucking cargo to the N'Dulee crossing instead — would mean they would use a charter company, Cooper Barging, to ship the goods via barge and tugboat from that crossing to some Sahtu communities. For that plan to work out, Camsell said, they would still need the coast guard's help setting up some buoys on that stretch of the river. "It's only a small stretch of the river, but we need about 30 buoys put in there," Camsell said. Camsell said he will be meeting with the coast guard this week to talk about the plan further, but nothing is finalized yet. "That would enable us to do a delivery to the Sahtu region ... We still have a lot of work to do and it's dependent on the coast guard co-operation for this," Camsell said. For communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Camsell said they will carry deliveries out of Tuktoyaktuk. Sahtu leaders aren't as optimistic Norman Wells Mayor Frank Pope said he hasn't heard anything from MTS about any plans yet. "[I] doubt we will have barge service," he said, though he added his community has enough supplies to last the season. Last fall, the town declared a local state of emergency as it grappled with increasing fuel costs in the wake of barge cancellations. To prepare for another summer of possible barge cancellations, a significant amount of fuel supplies, construction materials and a year's worth of groceries were trucked in by winter road to many Sahtu communities. Danny McNeely, MLA for the Sahtu, said he thinks recent water levels and reports from Environment and Climate Change mean chances of a barge season look bleak. "I don't think we're going to see a barging service this year," McNeely said. Tulı́t'a Mayor Douglas Yallee said they, too, have enough heating fuel and aircraft for now, but groceries could be a problem if barges don't arrive. "If need be, it'll have to be flown in and that's when the prices will go up," Yallee said. Yallee said it's getting harder to predict water levels each year. No long-term plans yet Looking ahead through that uncertainty Yallee described, Camsell said there is no long-term solution in place just yet if water levels keep being low. He said it's not unusual for water levels on the Mackenzie River to fluctuate, but if this trend continues, they'll have to look at other options. "We don't have [a solution] right now, but we're definitely looking at that if the need arises, for sure," Camsell said.
