Born 39 years ago in the suburbs of London, which he has never left, Martin Johnson has always been fascinated by the Thames, having in mind one day to run the entire length of the river which flows into the North Sea. .

A crazy bet of 38 h 35 min over 296 km, which he tells in a film "Run to the source", directed by Matt Kay (Patagonia).

Johnson didn't just want to achieve a sporting feat.

He wanted to raise awareness about the virtual absence of blacks and mixed race in trail and ultra-trail races.

"I discovered trail running in 2018 and found myself as the only black or mixed-race runner on the starting line. With confinement, the +Black Lives Matter+ movement and the murder of George Floyd, these issues have been debated more. I met a few runners who were going through the same thing as me. And when we didn't really talk about it before, we wondered: +why don't people of color take advantage of outdoor activities like trail running?+ “, told AFP Martin Johnson.

Black Trail Runners

He and other runners then created the 'Black Trail Runners' group, a one-of-a-kind online platform intended to 'increase the representation of black people in trail running in the UK' and which has taken off. scale to reach some 8,000 followers on Instagram.

Johnson first wanted to understand.

And he studied history, especially that of the Windrush generation, immigrants from the Caribbean who came to settle in Great Britain in the 1950s and 60s, like his father.

“The migrants were people who lived outdoors all the time because of the weather and they were confined to urban areas when they arrived in the UK and that connection they had with nature was severed. had more of a sense of belonging to outdoor spaces. Today, 97% of black and minority ethnic people live in urban centers. There is a cultural element to it," argues Johnson, whose mother is a white English woman.

"And if you look in the magazines or the trail running sites, you only see middle-aged white men. And when the younger generation of black and mixed-race people see that, they think it's not

not for them because they can't identify themselves," he said.

"We must break down these barriers by creating representation for greater ethnic diversity".

Not a fight

And not only in the trail, but also in other outdoor sports such as surfing, mountain biking, mountaineering or climbing.

"You can't be what you can't see," he repeats.

By making an impression with his extraordinary performance, this father of two young boys wanted to inspire, without trying to get into a fight.

"In an ideal world, + Black Trail Runners + would not exist because these barriers and these issues would not exist. This is not a fight, this is not an activism. It is is just a group of individuals who just want to encourage the participation in trail activities of ethnic minorities but also people living in urban areas".

British trailer Martin Johnson during a photo shoot in Paris on March 24, 2022. BERTRAND GUAY AFP

"There are so many benefits to be gained from diversity. From a purely sporting point of view, this enormous untapped potential can only push performance even higher," argues Johnson, who also wants to raise awareness in the sports industry. and race organizers.

According to Johnson, "the trail race directors" he talks to, "know all the black and mixed-race participants by name because there are so few of them."

"Everyone is aware of it, but no one dared to talk about it because these are taboo subjects and people were afraid of offending. But with the events of 2020, it is easier to talk about race issues", is satisfied -he.

© 2022 AFP