How Trail Sisters Informs, Supports, and Empowers Women in Trail Running

Today, Trail Sisters is a powerful movement advocating for gender equity in trail running and hiking with over 15,000 members. But its founder Gina Lucrezi initially set out to do something more modest. An elite runner with results on both the track and trail, Lucrezi started Trail Sisters in 2016 as a blog to encourage more women to join her in the male-dominated world of off-road races.

When the site started to get traction, she brought on more contributors to feature more women’s stories and to provide information to folks that wanted to start local communities of runners under the Trail Sisters umbrella.

In 2019, Lucrezi developed a standard to judging how well a race event supported female athletes, and compiled a calendar of Trail Sisters-approved events. Before long, Lucrezi started hosting her own races through the growing Trail Sisters organization—first one in Buena Vista, Colorado and another in Lake Sonoma, California. This year, Adidas Terrex announced it would be the title sponsor of both for the next three years.

As Trail Sisters approaches a decade in existence, I had the chance to speak with Lucrezi about the unique place she has found herself in within the world of trail running. Here, we explore the full story of her racing career, the blog’s humble beginnings and evolution into the invaluable resource it is today. Plus, how she created the Trail Sisters standard and why she believes empowering women in trail running empowers women everywhere.

The Trail Sisters Origin Story

Lucrezi has plenty of experience as an elite runner. She was a 10-time NCAA Division III All-American, and in 2005 won the 1500-meter indoor national championship while competing for DeSales University.

She found even more success on the trails over the past 15 years, at every distance from half marathon to 100 miler. She won the Northern Nipmuck 16-miler in 2010, the Mt. Tam 50K in 2013, and the Leadville Silver Rush 50 miler in 2017, among others.

Along the way, Lucrezi noticed that so many of the races, and the running community in general, was male-dominated. She knew there were women out there who could and would compete, but they weren’t there. While she worked to get to the bottom of why, she knew she wanted to do something about it.

Lucrezi launched the Trail Sisters blog in 2016, as a way to both encourage more women to participate and provide resources about what they would expect. She started publishing weekly articles on all things trail running and hiking for women. The site, perhaps thanks to Lucrezi’s experience in marketing, quickly found an audience. And soon after the launch, more women asked to help or contribute. “I invited seven other women to contribute, and we wrote educational, inspirational, and empowering content each week,” Lucrezi told me.

The Trail Sisters Mission

Even as Trail Sisters has evolved in the years since launch, the Trail Sisters mission remains clear: to increase women’s participation and opportunity in trail running and hiking through inspiration, education, and empowerment. “If we can provide you with what you need through education, and that empowers you, then you can confidently go create your own version. And that’s growth,” Lucrezi said.

Anyone who wants to try something new needs to have the tools. And one of the best tools for learning is storytelling and sharing experiences. The site eventually turned into a crowd-sourced platform for all people who identify as a woman in the outdoor space.

Building the Trail Sisters Community

Once the site was publishing regularly, Lucrezi decided to add functionality for people to find partners for group runs. The feature has since developed into a network of local Trail Sisters chapters that host regular training and social events for runners across the country and world. Women who want to join a local chapter can now go to the Communities page on the website, create an account, and apply to join their local chapter—it’s not like the meetup time is just posted publicly. This adds a level of safety for anyone nervous about showing up for the first time.

The seeds were planted, and now much of the Trail Sisters community is organic and growing on its own. Lucrezi has a set of guidelines and suggestions for those starting their own group or chapter, but from there she likes to let people do their own thing. “I can tell you what works where I live, but I have no idea what might work better in Birmingham, Alabama.”

Trail Sisters Events: How, When & Why

Trail Sisters was founded on the ethos of empowering women to participate in trail running. Since she says women report that they feel safest at women-only race events, she decided she needed to host some trail events that were only open to women. She has since launched two races: one in Buena Vista, Colorado, now in its fifth year, and another in Lake Sonoma, California, now in its fourth year. The Lake Sonoma event actually existed before the Trail Sisters involvement, with a 50-miler and marathon with men and women’s fields. But since 2023, Lucrezi has been the race director and launched a Trail Sisters Half Marathon, only for women.

Recently, Lucrezi announced that Adidas Terrex would be the presenting sponsor for both events for the next three years. Sponsorships like these allow Lucrezi to make the race more attractive to both elite and novice racers. The Lake Sonoma race now has an elite start and prize money for podium finishers, but also pacers for less experienced runners targeting a 13-hour finish. This makes sure that “people competing in their first 50 or who are intimidated by all the ups and downs that come with running that distance” will feel comfortable participating.

The race also features plenty of activities for friends and family who aren’t participating in a race, plus lots of celebrations and post-race parties, open to everyone. It is important to Lucrezi to make trail running welcoming rather than exclusive. “If someone attends our race as support, maybe they’ll want to give it a try themselves next year,” she said.

In addition to the Lake Sonoma event, Lucrezi puts on a half marathon and 10K on her home trails in Buena Vista, Colorado. The BV race takes place in September, when the aspens are turning golden and the air is crisp. The event is brimming with camaraderie and support, but also gives women a chance to test their limits and sometimes set personal best times.

What Is the Trail Sisters Standard?

Of course, Lucrezi can’t single-handedly plan races in every corner of the country. In 2019, with the help of other runners and race directors, they compiled a list of standards that races could adopt to make their races more welcoming to women. “We asked ourselves what we could do to draw them in, make them feel comfortable and like [the race] is for them,” she said of the criteria.

In order for an event to be approved as meeting the Trail Sisters Standards, a race must offer or have:

• equal podiums and awards for men and women
• women-specific apparel and swag
• menstrual products at aid stations
• women on the start line (not hidden behind the entire field of men)
• a written pregnancy and postpartum policy

Lucrezi says the standards are an achievable start, but that there’s still a lot more that can be done. “Eventually I’d love to see things like childcare being a standard,” she tells me.

The list of events that have adopted the standard was initially quite small—less than a dozen—but in time has grown. Today in 2025, the calendar of Trail Sisters approved races is extensive, with over 600 events all over North America, at every distance.

And the functional calendar allows runners to search for races in your area, or in any region you’re interested in, and filter in a variety of ways.

This Is Bigger Than Running

For Lucrezi, empowering women in trail running is empowering women, period. Giving women the opportunity to have adventures in the outdoors makes them more likely to take on larger challenges. Lucrezi herself is a good example of this. Last year, she campaigned to serve on the Chaffee County Board of Commissioners, the highest governing body of the Colorado town where she lives. She won. By over 10 percent.

To learn more, get involved, and find races in your area, visit Trail Sisters directly.