Yashmin Harun is the British Empire Medal-awarded, founder and Chair of the Muslimah Sports Association, who deliver weekly cycling and running sessions for women in London and have seen their numbers increase and participants go from strength-to-strength on both bike and foot.

The women-only sessions take place every Thursday at Redbridge Cycling Centre, attracting ladies from across the local area to invest time in their physical and mental health whilst developing key skills and friendships.

“Women were asking us for a safe space for them to do cycling,” Harun commented when asked about the reasons behind starting the sessions.

“We had complete beginners and those who were already cycling who wanted to get more confident in cycling and not be on the road.

“We got in touch with Jon [Train, Triathlon England Regional Manager for London] and Jon came up with a proposal to ask Redbridge Cycling Centre if we could use their space. They agreed to it for an hour and a half to be exclusively female only every Thursday, and allowed women to do either running or cycling, and if they wanted to learn to cycle the instructors were on hand to teach them as well.”

Working with Triathlon England, Harun and the MSA have been able to access local coaches and grow the community of women taking part in cycling and running, becoming more confident as they do so.

“The MSA has been really successful because we’ve done a lot of collaborative working with national governing bodies,” Harun commented. “We have the participation base, but we don’t have the expertise.

“They [Triathlon England] were looking to get more diverse communities involved in cycling and running, and we already had that participation base to reach out to, so it worked for both of us.

“At the beginning, a lot of the women were apprehensive because they weren’t sure whether or not cycling was for them. We’ve had a number of cyclists who have now gone on to become long distance cyclists and they also run cycle sessions as well.”

That some of the beginners when the group first started are now able to help newer members is a positive sign of the impact of the sessions to not only build cycling skills, but also confidence amongst the women taking part.

With the sessions offering safe, closed circuits for cycling and running, they provide women from across the area with the opportunity to become more comfortable on their bikes and when running, as well as helping to build community within the group.

“There are excellent instructors and coaches there on the day, so it’s the perfect space for them to learn more,” explained Harun.

“There were so many women who had never even been on a bike, and that came as quite a surprise to me. So to see them now going on these long distance rides and taking out a group on the road to build their confidence is really rewarding, because if we didn’t offer that opportunity they probably wouldn’t be doing this in their lives at this moment.

“We now have a number of cyclists who are quite advanced, so they come and do their training there, so that inspires the new cyclists as well, that if these women can get to that level so can I.

“The coaches are really good as well, because you have one who deals with the new cyclists and one who deals with the more advanced cyclists.”

Cycling and running were just the start however, with the social aspect of the sessions and the community of women that has been built up a core component of the activities.

“They go out to a restaurant afterwards for lunch and they catch up there, so it’s that social element as well,” Harun said. “They’re not just exercising together, they then go out and socialise together afterwards.

“Having the bikes available to hire at the centre is really advantageous as well because they don’t have to worry about getting a bike in to the car or cycling to the venue.

“The timing of it worked out perfectly. They drop the kids off, quickly come and do their exercise for an hour and a half, and if they want to go home and catch up with other stuff they can do, or if they want to go out for lunch they can as well.”

Find out more about GO TRI with MSA Cycling and Running with Confidence sessions, and other beginner sessions in swim, bike, run on the GO TRI website: https://gotri.org/whats-on.