Founded in January 2025, Girls on the Run is a female-only running group in Burnley, set up by Liberty Thompson to help women feel safe exercising.

After facing repeated cat-calling while out running, and after speaking to a woman too frightened to run alone, Liberty decided to bring women together and create a community who can lean on each other both physically and emotionally.

Liberty said: "I think most people, like most women in general that I speak to around here do feel like unsafe.

"I think the Government in general aren't doing enough- I think they need to set up more groups, like there isn't enough official groups."

Liberty was also critical of the Government's current ten year plan to halve violence against women and girls.

She said: "There's no point saying 'we've got a ten year plan', because what about the girls who are teenagers now? Like 13-year-olds, by the time they're then in their early twenties, they're not going to want to go running because they've never done it."

Club member Nicola Keeley claims the group has "changed [her] life", and thanks to the support, she's now ready to tackle a half-marathon in three weeks.

She said: "Being a female, going out on your own, it can be really quite daunting.

"Even when we're in a big group you'll find that people still will honk their horns, we've had men with teenagers in the car and they're letting them hang out the window and shout stuff.

"As a group, you can laugh it off, but if you were on your own, it'd be really daunting."

Under 23 England Bronze Medallist, Rebecca Weekes, also believes more should be done by the Government to improve women's safety while exercising.

Rebecca described how, even as an accomplished and confident runner, she still feels the need to take a number of precautions to feel safe when running, including not wearing headphones, regularly changing her route, and ensuring it's light outside.

She said: "As a woman, you very much end up planning where you're going to run and how you're going to run, just based on who's around.

"I think that ten years is a long time to wait for women and girls. If you think about running as well, I mean it's going to have a huge impact on the number of girls now that want to run."

Rebecca also mirrored MP Lilian Greenwood's earlier words in Parliament, adding the notion that better-lit running routes, particularly in parks, could help women feel safer by acting as a deterrent.

Launched by Rossendale Leisure Trust at the end of January 2026, 'She Runs' is an ongoing campaign focused on building community running groups which encourage women and girls to feel safer exercising, especially in the dark.

The project is funded by the Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner, with support from MPs Andy MacNae and Sarah Smith, Councillor Samara Barnes, and Safer Rossendale.

In an online survey between 15 January and 2 February 2026- where 95% of respondents were female- Rossendale Leisure Trust recorded that only 3% of respondents 'always feel safe' outdoors in the dark.

Moreover, in a Rossendale Leisure Trust internal focus group of four runners and four non-runners, the list of places which respondents would explicitly avoid was extensive.

This included: parks, dark routes, canals, tunnels, off-road areas, and some housing estates.

As such, the 'She Runs' campaign aims to break the stigma of fear these places hold, and so far, the campaign has had a significantly positive impact on the women of Rossendale.

One runner said: "As a woman from the South Asian community in Haslingden, I’ve always felt a bit 'visible' for the wrong reasons when running.

"Joining the She Runs group has made
me feel visible for the right reasons. We’re a team, and the support is incredible."

Due to its high level of local Government backing, 'She Runs' serves as a prime example of how thoughtful intervention by regional authorities can have a substantial impact on the ground, reiterating an opinion previously expressed by Liberty Thompson: ongoing intervention by regional councils is key to improving women's safety while exercising.