Tuggeranong runners rally in support of woman 'grabbed from behind' by man

A group of runners are meeting at Tuggeranong Hill this Sunday (9 March) in response to a “shock wave” that’s been sent through the local community.

Earlier this week, ACT Policing called for information after a woman was “grabbed from behind by a man” on the morning of Saturday, 1 March, while running through the southside nature reserve.

The man was described as Caucasian in appearance, in his late 20s to early 30s, with brown shoulder-length hair, a black T-shirt, long tan pants and Vans shoes, and with a black e-scooter.

Police say the woman was able to break free from the man’s hold before running away and calling police.

The hunt is still on for the man – accused of assault – but in the meantime, a group of local runners wants to make sure that wherever he is, he knows they won’t stand for it.

Organised by keen runners Kim Elms and Brent Ford, the Tuggeranong Hill Run is asking for a “big group” to walk or run the 8 km loop around the hill this Sunday morning to “send a message to whoever is responsible that this kind of action isn’t okay”.

“This incident has sent a shock wave through the local trail community,” the event listing on Facebook reads.

“Open to anyone and everyone, come along … Make some new trail buddies, connect with locals and most importantly have some fun.”

Kim, who lives in the nearby suburb of Gilmore, says she runs solo around the hill “constantly”.

“It’s meant to be safe, so it has really hit us.”

But Kim, who has also lived in Brisbane and Sydney in her time, admits women out on runs having to put up with cat-calling, wolf-whistling or other forms of harassment by men is a constant problem.

In 2016, in an interview with the ABC, she described the harassment as “non-stop”.

“I’ve had guys run alongside me to smack my arse. I have had men run behind me chanting, ‘I see you baby, shaking that arse’,” she said.

Closer to home, she recalls running along Clift Crescent in Richardson early in the morning, while still dark, and being tailed by a ute.

“It was kind of, ‘Do I stay under the street lights on a main street, and hope another car comes along, or do I take a chance and run down a dodgy footpath in the dark, hoping he’s not going to get out and follow?”

A 2017 study by Runner’s World found 43 per cent of female runners experienced harassment at least sometimes, compared with 4 per cent of men.

And in a submission to the National Children’s Commissioner in 2020, PLAN International Australia found almost one in four girls and young women experience street harassment at least once a month or more.

“I went and took self-defence courses with martial arts, and I know another friend is doing the same because she’s afraid to run in the dark,” Kim says.

“We all deal with it, every woman, if you asked us.”

For the same cause, Kim is also undertaking her own challenge to run every one of Canberra’s suburban streets, which she documents on her Instagram account, Every Street Matters.

By running several kilometres every day in between her jobs as a mobile speech pathologist, she hopes to finish the challenge in time for the 2026 Canberra Marathon and raise funds to enact coercive control laws here in the ACT.

“I want to make coercive control illegal in the ACT,” she says.

“And it’s personal for me because I’m out of that sort of relationship – domestic violence, coercive control, sexual assault.”

She started the challenge on 1 January. So far, she’s completed 16 suburbs.

“The ACT Government puts suburban streets at between 5000 and 6000 km, so I want to run about 4000 km a year.”

She already knows which suburbs aren’t her favourite.

“Jacka … there are no trees so it’s glare-y,” she says.

“Calwell and Theodore sucked the hardest in terms of the hills … I did not have a good time. The funnest ones are the leafiest suburbs at the moment because it’s hot, so I really like Aranda.”

Kim says Sunday’s run is open to men and women, of all ages, with the group meeting on Callister Street in Theodore at 7:15 am.

Canberra Liberals MLA for Brindabella, Mark Parton also voiced his support for the run in the ACT Legislative Assembly, saying, “We need to stand as one and say that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated”.

Register for the Tuggeranong Hill Run on Facebook.