Women-only races

A women-only race brings together female participants only, with no mixed field on the starting line: here, every stride belongs to women, and to them alone 😁. For a long time, the marathon was even closed to women: it wasn’t until 1967 that Kathrine Switzer signed up using only her initials and became the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon, despite an organizer trying to pull her off the course 😡. The women’s marathon wouldn’t enter the Olympic Games until 1984, in Los Angeles 🇺🇸. Today’s non-mixed races carry the direct legacy of that fight: they offer a space to run without comparing yourself to men, at your own pace, surrounded by other women 🧍‍♀️.

In this kind of event, the atmosphere changes everything 📣. On the starting line, competition often takes a back seat to solidarity 🤝. You chat between strides, you cheer on the woman next to you who’s walking, you applaud the one running her first 10K 🫂. Many of these meetups also lean into costumes or an annual theme—like a costume party on asphalt: one edition Amazon-style Amazons, another with a Far West vibe 🤠. The athletic level is never a barrier: walking, run/walk, or a timed format all coexist at the same event, and performance doesn’t dominate the experience ❌.

In France, La Parisienne remains the genre’s absolute reference ☀️. Since 1997, it has brought together thousands of runners every year in the streets of Paris for a 100% women’s weekend that has become the biggest non-mixed running event in Europe: more than 30,000 participants, compared with 1,500 at the first edition 🫡. The course starts at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, runs alongside a section of the Champs-Élysées, and offers three formats: a timed 10K, a 7K, and a 5K walk 🏃‍♀️. Each year, the event adopts a different costume theme, and a music group is stationed every 250 meters to set the pace for the runners.

Other events keep this tradition alive across several French regions. In Marseille, La Marseillaise des Femmes brings runners together over 5.4 km starting from Parc Borély, along the seafront, in a decidedly girl-power atmosphere 👊. Over in Toulouse, it’s mud awaiting competitors: the Mud Girl Toulouse offers 5 km of obstacle racing reserved for women, nets and walls to climb included 📋. Then head to the Grand Est, where the Raid des Châteaux 100% female invites participants to a 30.1 km multi-sport event in pairs, over several days, in the heart of the Vosges du Nord Regional Natural Park ⬆️.

Internationally, the women’s movement has also grown considerably! 😎 In Japan, the Nagoya Women’s Marathon claims the title of the largest women’s marathon in the world, certified by Guinness World Records, with around 20,000 runners on the start line each March edition 🗓️. In Austria, the ASICS Austrian Women’s Run promotes itself as the biggest women’s race in Europe. Around 30,000 women and girls set off at the end of May on the Prater Hauptallee, in Vienna, over 5 or 10 km, with no time pressure ❌. In the United States, the New York Mini, run over 10 km in Central Park, is considered one of the oldest women-only road races in the world 🌍. In Switzerland, head to Bern for the Schweizer Frauenlauf and its 5 and 10K 100% women-only races, in an equally festive atmosphere 🥳.

Beyond performance, these events cultivate a real extra spark: brunches with friends after the finish, wellness workshops, and often a strong link to causes that particularly affect women, such as the fight against breast cancer 💖. Many participants also follow up their women’s race with a charity race later in the season: the collective spirit stays the same 🫡.

So, ready to pin on your bib among women? On Finishers, you’ll find the race that suits you, somewhere between a festive vibe and runner solidarity 🏃‍♀️. And if you feel like extending the adventure with music and costumes, head to festive races 🎉, where good vibes, unlike bibs, come with no restrictions 🎫.