SIX months in, the founders of a female-only running club in Oxford set up to make women feel safer running in the dark have spoken out on the group's success.

Harriet Day, 26 from Wallingford and Megan Titterington, 24 from Bicester, set up Oxford Girls Running in February after meeting on TikTok. 

The duo decided to start the free running club to help women feel safe running in the dark, and have since built a supportive community of runners.

Reflecting on the last six months, Ms day said: "I think we both say it's very successful.

"It feels so rewarding - it's the space that we wanted and we didn't really expect it to take off the way it did.

"We feel like it's more than we ever could have imagined, to be honest, and I think success for us is just seeing the girls enjoy themselves, feeling safe in that community and having that social network."

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The club meet at Westgate every Monday at 6pm to run a 5k around the city centre, and the pair highlighted the importance of having a safe community for women to run with in the dark. 

Ms Day said: "I think it's so important to have that community where women feel safe and can continue to do the things that they like to do.

"There's people that don't want to go out on their runs in the winter because they feel unsafe."

She added that providing a safe environment is "such an honour".

Oxford Girls Running also host socials and recently held a picnic to say thank you to the group for their continued support.

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"Ultimately, it's not me and Megan that makes the community, it's people that come every week, so it was really nice for everyone to have that chance to socialise," Ms Day said. 

Ms Titterington added that the social aspect of the group has proved popular.

The Oxford Girls Running picnic held earlier this monthThe Oxford Girls Running picnic held earlier this month (Image: Contributed)

"I think maybe it's a testament to the fact that making friends in your 20s is really, really difficult, and we've had some girls who've come who've literally moved a week before," she said. 

"They've come to the club and they're like, oh, this is so important because this is a way for me to meet people in a new area where I have no friends."

"We had an event recently and it felt like the first time in a long time that I had like a girls group again, and I really missed that from university.

"I'm just really grateful, more than anything, that this has been as successful as it has in the sense that it means that I've made so many new friends."

Ms Day added: "I think one of my favourite things is seeing the girls socialise outside of run club and realising that we've created that space for them to to meet these people and to connect on a level of something that's good for you.

"That's something that we wanted to dig into a little bit more, not only provide that safe space for exercise, but also a chance for people to socialise and make some new friends."