Sabrina Pace-Humphreys: meet the woman behind Black Trail Runners

Sabrina-Pace Humphreys is an ultra runner, author, and co-founder of Black Trail Runners. Based in Stroud where she spent her childhood, Sabrina shares the difficulties growing up battling rural racism and a lack of representation.

When Sabrina’s GP recommended she take up running to help cope with her mental health issues after the birth of her fourth child, neither patient nor doctor could have predicted quite how effective that treatment would be**.** Years have passed since, and Sabrina has transformed from someone who couldn’t run, to a respected ultra-distance athlete. Her most recent feat only last week being to complete the Centurion Winter Downs 200-mile non-stop trail race.

Above all, Sabrina is a runner who has turned her drive and passion into creating Black Trail Runners, a community and charity that provides a safe space and gateway into the outdoors for people of colour, whether new to trail running or experienced. BTR has become a place to share lived experiences, runs, tips, and so much more.

Chatting with someone so dedicated to breaking down barriers and increasing diversity is an eye-opening experience, Sabrina’s passion is clear in every word she shares.

How did you first get into running?

“My story of running is that I started in 2009 and I wasn’t a runner, didn’t run as a young person. It was a space that I was fearful of because I’d never done it before. I grew up in this area [The Costwolds] and experienced rural racism from a very early age, which made me very fearful of being in the outdoors because of the abuse I’d suffered. Running and any sort of outdoor pursuits was not on my radar at all. I grew up in relative poverty. Any kind of clubs that cost money, we didn’t do.

“Running wasn’t really anywhere on my radar at all. It was after I had my fourth child in 2009, I was experiencing very, very severe post-natal depression and questioning my life. I went to a GP and she diagnosed that I was suffering with pretty severe post-natal depression. Alongside medication and thought therapy, she had said to me … ‘Why don’t you try jogging?’"

To hear more about Sabrina's experience growing up and her path to finding running, pick up a copy of her debut book Black Sheep: A Story of Rural Racism, Identity and Hope.

Did trail running follow?

“It was my first introduction to trail running because I was looking for somewhere I wouldn’t be seen. I was about five stone overweight, I didn’t have any running attire. I felt quite a lot of shame about the way that I looked and in the way that I presented.

“I went to the local canal tow path, which was away from the main road. And walk ran, or walk shuffled, my way for forty minutes. When I got home, although I was in a lot of physical pain, I hadn’t had any thoughts for forty minutes about taking my own life. And that, for me, was the reason that I kept going back even though it was painful. And it’s the reason that I still do what I do today."

Why do you run?

“I still experience very high anxiety and episodes of depression. I have a very hectic life, the work that I do in terms of being a social justice activist, founding a charity. All of that leads into quite negative spaces for me. Therefore, the reason that I now run hundreds of miles and the reason that I still continue to run to this day, continue to coach particularly women to run, is about creating safe spaces and spaces to feel free."

How did you transition from beginner to ultra marathon runner?

“I think it’s about being really present. Time has taught me this from that first run when all I could think about was putting one foot in front of the other and keeping myself upright. If someone had told me in 2009 that you will go on to do the Marathon des Sables, you will go on to win ultras, you will do 268-mile races across the spin of the UK, I would have absolutely not believed you.

“Small steps at a time, that’s how I did it. When I did that first run, the next thing I thought was can I do it for 50 minutes, can I do it for 55 minutes, an hour? Could I train for a 5km? Over the years, small bit by bit, my mileage grew along with my confidence in myself as a woman, as a mum, as a woman of colour who didn’t see herself represented in these spaces.

“The key thing I say to anybody is that you can only start where you are. And if that is a complete beginner and one day you might like to do a 5km, 10km, or half marathon, then start where you are and small steps, listening to your body, you can get there. No matter what the distance. Someone’s 5km to them is like my 100-miler to me, it’s all relative.”

What is Black Trail Runners?

“Black Trail Runners is a community and campaigning charity. We set it up in 2020 as a community because there wasn’t a trail running community in the world that had the mission to encourage more people of colour into the outdoors via the sport of trail running. We’re called Black Trail Runners, but actually we’re a space for whether you’re a black person, a brown person, a white ally, however you identify, for those who want to see a more diverse outdoors, that wants to navigate trails and see people of all colours represented. Black Trail Runners is a community for you.

“I had an experience in late 2019 in the Alps where I was doing a trail race and I slipped off the side of a snowfield, screaming for my life, and was passed by five white men as if I wasn’t there. That made me really think about whether I belonged in this sport, because I didn’t see people that looked like me. I didn’t see women who understood what it was to be othered, to be ignored, to not be seen within this space. I was looking for a community, and it wasn’t there.

“Sometimes when we can’t see it, we have to be it. So that’s why I had the idea of founding a community that first and foremost was about really looking to diversify the outdoors, looking to address the barriers to access that there are for people of colour when looking to experience the outdoors."

What's the mission at Black Trail Runners?

“We didn’t know if it would take off, but as soon as we pressed that button in July 2020, it went global. We have members from around the world who finally feel represented doing a sport that they love, or wanting to get into a sport that they love. Day to day, we address those barriers to access, inclusion by skills training, representation, financial barriers, geographic barriers.

“Many members of our community have been urbanised over hundreds of years and don’t feel that connection to the countryside. Geographically, if they live in London which a high proportion of our members do, it costs £100 to get out to the Cotswolds on the train. We have to remember that there are systemic reasons that people have disproportionately less disposable income that other members of society.

“The work that we do is about equipping, physically and mentally, our members with the tools that they need in order to feel a sense of confidence in them being able to eventually navigate these places on their own. We became a charity in 2021, so all of the funding that we have is put back into encouraging the inclusion and participation of people of colour within trail running.”

How can people get involved?

“We have group runs taking place weekly. We have Black to the Trails 2024 race registrations open, whether you want to come and run 1km, 5km, 10km, or our spicy 10km. Whether you want to volunteer, or if you want to fundraise, the best place to go is to blacktrailrunners.run and you can find everything about us there.

“We’re very active on Instagram as well @BlackTrailRunners. I’m also very active on my Instagram @SabRunsMiles. There are various things happening all of the time, to the social runs we host, to trail taster days, to the events that we go to and host, workshops, etc. It’s very easy to find us and become a member, and share in what it is to be part of a really diverse community seeking to further diversify the outdoors.”

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