This year we are fielding two relay teams for Belfast City Marathon on Sunday 1st May. 

We'll run for those who can't run anymore, who went out for a run and never came back. To those women - you're in our thoughts, with us in our footsteps, and our panting breaths. We do this for you, because your ability to do it was taken from you.

For all runners - there are barriers to overcome before clocking up the miles; we need to find the t

he motivation, there's the hassle of getting into the running gear, the push to get out into the cold. 

For the the women in the group, these struggles are often accompanied by the instinctive and subtle fear that our safety might be breached while we simply try to get some fresh air, or get the endorphins flowing. 

Vault Runners have been incredibly saddened by the murder of 11 women in Northern Ireland since lockdown began. When another woman was killed while running in January in Co. Offaly, we knew we'd run for a Women's charity this year. 

These women weren't us, but we know that they could have been.
We want to run to raise awareness of the everyday threats to safety that women face here in Ireland.

Belfast and Lisburn Women's Aid provide a range of support services to women and children experiencing domestic abuse. These support services include emergency accommodation, specialist counselling, group work, personal development programmes, and one-to-one support. They also campaign for legislative change in Northern Ireland and constantly seek to raise awareness of the impact of domestic abuse with various online and social campaigns.