Runners from 15-different countries joined forces at the Unity Challenge on Sunday 16 August, the final day of the Birmingham 2026 European Athletics Championships, to launch the Sanctuary Runners movement in Birmingham.
Founded in Ireland in 2018, the initiative seeks to proactively use running and walking to bring everyone in the community together on one team – including people who have moved from other countries.
Sanctuary Runners is now approaching 60 groups across the globe, and Sunday's launch saw the initiative come to the West Midlands for the first time. By partnering with Birmingham 2026 as part of the Beyond Programme, which gifted Sanctuary Runners 30 free of charge places for their community, Sanctuary Runners had participants from the following countries taking part in the Unity 5K and Unity 1K – the UK, Sudan, Germany, Eritrea, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Antigua, Sierra Leone, St Kitts, Iraq, Libya, India, Ukraine and Bangladesh. The team included refugees living in Birmingham as well as members of the wider diverse community.
Graham Clifford, founder and Head of International Development with the Sanctuary Runners said the event was so exciting as it heralds the beginning of an exciting new chapter in Birmingham. “We’ve seen in other cities the power of the Sanctuary Runners movement to bring people all of different nationalities together. People who otherwise would have been very unlikely to meet, build a connection and get to know and better understand each other. Everyone runs in our distinctive turquoise running top and we focus on building bridges within the community, helping people to get active and basically just being decent human beings. Also, and this is so important, we have fun while doing it and don’t take ourselves too seriously! It’s so important nowadays that we have initiatives like this which seek to bring people together in solidarity, friendship and respect – no agendas, just to be decent.”
Chris Moss, Impact Lead for Birmingham 2026, said: "The Unity Challenge was always meant to be a way for everyone to have their own medal moment during the Championships week. I'm delighted that we were able to invite Sanctuary Runners to hold their official launch of the programme in Birmingham at the Unity Challenge events, and I can't wait to see Sanctuary Runners grow in the West Midlands region now they're officially up and running. It's really special to know that Birmingham 2026 could play even a small part in the legacy of what's sure to be an incredible community resource for the diverse communities of Birmingham."
For more about the Beyond programme, click here.