The Sweaty Betty Foundation's vision is a world where every woman and girl is active, healthy and happy and our mission is to empower women and girls from every background to get active, and stay active – for life.

The Foundation’s focus for the first few years has been supporting girls aged 10–18 to try new activities at school, at home and in their communities, so that they can discover the ways they love to get active. They supported the Youth Sport Trust to deliver the 'Girls Active' programme to 10 schools in East London, Leeds and Glasgow in 2021 and 2022. Over 250 girls were empowered to work with their teachers to change their PE curriculum and to take part in sessions run by Sweaty Betty's network of instructors.

Globally, only 15% of teenage girls are doing enough physical activity. The changes to girls bodies’, and their confidence, caused by puberty is the biggest reason. Girls tell us that they encounter some major barriers to enjoying PE, including that they hate the changing room experience, they wish they could talk to understanding teachers about puberty (especially about periods) and they don’t feel confident or comfortable in their kit.

The Foundation will work with local and national partners to innovate and pilot new ways to overcome these barriers, turning PE from something girls dread into something they look forward to each week.

We’re also working with partners like Greenhouse Sports to deliver bra workshops to girls across London, talking them through the steps to correctly fit a sports bra as well as explaining and discussing why it’s important to wear one.

We are running the half marathon as we were once these girls! Over-coming issues with body confidence shaped our youth. Working at Sweaty Betty has helped improve our relationship with our bodies and empowered us to feel positive about the way we look! We want to raise money for the Foundation so that more of an impact can be made at a younger age so that our future women feel supported in their formative years.

Whether you give a pound or a penny, we appreciate any support you can give us on our big race day!

- Rebecca Smith & Lily Copland-Jones