Shawn Gatlin
My Story
Hola! Thanks for visiting my fundraising page for the 2025 TCS London Marathon. I'll keep this short but substantial. As a little, Black boy from Mississippi, I grew up with a heart condition that didn't allow me the chance to play sports or run. Getting older, this disadvantage no longer remained my excuse for greatness and physical activity and since, I have completed not one, but TWO World Major Marathons - Chicago (2019) and Tokyo (2023). With 26.2 x 2 under my feet, my goal is to complete all six World Major Marathons and I would greatly appreciate your help in achieving this lifetime opportunity.
That's enough about me for now, so learn more about my Black Trail Runners community below!
Black Trail Runners is a community and campaigning charity that was launched in 2020 with the aim to increase the inclusion, participation and representation of people of Black ethnicity in the sport of trail running.
The UK population currently stands at 4% of its population being people of Black ethnicity but, currently, less than 0.7% of participants in trail running event are people of colour.
Through charitable work, Black Trail Runners address barriers to access for people of Black ethnicity across the spheres of Access, Skills and Representation.
Their events and initiatives include trail taster days, social runs, skills workshops, a kit loan scheme, an event entry fund, qualification of run leaders and run coaches and representation of people of Black ethnicity in trail running across all forms of social and traditional media via films, image and written word.
The charity is led by a board of trustees who represent the community that they serve.
If you want to help to increase ethnic diversity in running, support us today.