30 October, 2026

A few weeks ago, Nike hosted the London leg of its After Dark Tour, a global series of nighttime races celebrating women who run and the communities around them, while encouraging women to reclaim the night. 

For many women, going for a run after dark isn’t as straightforward as lacing up their shoes and heading out the door. Research from Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign found that more than half of women feel unsafe exercising outdoors alone after dark, compared with a third of men. Against that backdrop, After Dark brings women of different backgrounds and abilities together to run distances from 10K to a half marathon, creating an experience that turns something that can feel uncomfortable or off limits into something communal and celebratory. 

This programme feels closely connected to Nike’s mission: to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. By focusing on a barrier that affects many women who run, Nike is creating an experience specifically designed around them, helping to remove some of the barriers that can shape when, where and how women run. It’s a space where Nike has both credibility and a distinctive perspective, making the programme feel like a natural extension of the brand. The response suggests it has landed well with runners too, with every date currently sold out. 

We’re interested to see how the programme grows over the next few years, and whether Nike looks at measuring the impact it has. Does taking part change women’s relationship with running afterwards? Does it reach women who might otherwise feel excluded from the running? As expectations around impact measurement grow, demonstrating these longer-term outcomes can help initiatives like After Dark build credibility and show the difference they are making, helping turn a powerful experience into something with a much longer-lasting legacy. 

By Meg Seckel