Mick Hartley

The Times – Nike criticised for allowing men in night race aimed at women:

It was as Mara Hafezi watched the first wave of runners line up for Nike’s latest After Dark race aimed at women that she noticed something wasn’t quite right.

The 10km event, held last Sunday evening around the Excel centre in east London, had been marketed as an opportunity for women to come together and “reclaim the night” — but among the thousands of female runners in attendance were a handful of men.

“It was really disappointing,” said Hafezi, 35, from London. “The moment you have men involved, whether it’s two or twenty, it’s no longer a women’s-only race. There were people asking, ‘Why are they here?’ I just couldn’t understand it.”

Nike is facing criticism for allowing men to participate in the London finale of the company’s After Dark tour, which has been held throughout 2025 in six other cities including Sydney, Seoul, Shanghai, Mumbai, Mexico City and Los Angeles.…

According to the company’s After Dark Tour website, which only features images of female runners, the race was “designed for women”. Nike also describes its tour as “a global race series that offers women an opportunity to test their limits and redefine what’s possible”. However, the promotional material does not specify that men cannot take part. Nike declined to comment.

They want it both ways. They want to show how lovely and woman-supporting they are, but they don’t want to antagonise the gender crowd. It’s a cop-out. Of course it’s a cop-out. What else would anyone expect?