# National Black Marathoners Association

The National Black Marathoners' Association (NBMA) is a not-for-profit runners' organization. The executive director and co-founder is Anthony (Tony) Reed, the first Black person in the world to run marathons on all seven continents in 2007. It was formed in 2004 and held its first Annual Summit at the 2005 Lewis and Clark Marathon in St. Charles, Missouri. The organization offers college scholarships to high school distance runners. In 2013, it recognized the accomplishments of African American distance runners through its National Black Distance Running Hall of Fame and Achievement Awards Events. The organization is open to everyone, regardless of their running or walking ability or distance.
In 2021, they focused on African American women runners with the documentary, Breaking Three Hours: Trailblazing African American Women Marathoners. In 2023, they profiled seven African American distance runners with the documentary, We ARE Distance Runners: Untold Stories of African American Athletes, to dispel the myth that African Americans are sprinters, not distance runners.

## National Black Marathoners Association “1865 Free to Run” Logo

Since 2004, the National Black Marathoners' Association's (NBMA) official logo has been a symbolic race number. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished "slavery and involuntary servitude" on December 6, 1865. After that date, Blacks were supposed to be "Free to Run" without interference.

## Annual Summits

The Association's annual summits are occasionally held in partnership with major races including the 2018 Baltimore Running Festival, the 2019 Little Rock Marathon, the 2020 St. Jude Marathon, and 2021 Flying Pig Marathon.

## National Black Distance Running Hall of Fame Inductees

The Hall of Fame has inducted several classes of honorees in 2013-2015, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2024. The full list of inductees is available here.

### Class of 2013

* Marilyn Bevans
* Ted Corbitt
* Frederick F. Davis III
* Warren Elzy
* Frances Gilbert
* Angela Ivory
* South Fulton Running Partners

### Class of 2014

* New York Pioneer Club

### Class of 2015

* Elizabeth Brown
* Rosco Lee Brown
* Charles Burden
* Robin Campbell-Bennett
* Bridgette Collins
* Tobie Joseph Cotton
* Ricky Cox
* James Dean
* Lisa Felder
* Ed Gardiner
* Phillip Granville
* Howard Hale
* Frank Hart
* Alphonzo Jackson
* Augustus “Gus” Johnson
* R. Earl Johnson
* Mebrahtom Keflezighi
* Merhawi Keflezighi
* Clifford Mitchell
* Gus Moore
* Aaron Morris
* William Pegram
* Jon Byron Rankin
* Sam Robinson
* S. Smith
* G. Stevens
* John Stookey (Stuckey)
* Ed Williams
* F. Williams
* Avondale Running Club

### Class of 2017

* Loretta Claiborne
* Isaiah Douglas
* Richard Gregory
* Ron Gregory
* Anthony Renard Reed
* Ella Willis-Glaze
* Team Marathon

### Class of 2019

* Herman Atkins
* Gary Corbitt
* Lillian Greene-Chamberlain
* Alisa Camille Harvey
* Oscar Moore, Jr.
* Catherine Pugh
* Charlotte Simmons

### Class of 2022

* Samia Akbar
* Gillis Bowden
* Michele Bush-Cuke
* Sika Henry
* Reggie McAfee
* MIchele Tiff-Hill
* Ingrid Walters
* Shawanna White
* Rainbow Runners Club

### Class of 2024

* Shalisa Davis
* Anthanette Fields-Wilson
* Joseph Gray

## Documentary - Breaking Three Hours: Trailblazing African American Women Marathoners

Breaking Three Hours: Trailblazing African American Women Marathoners is a 2022 feature-length documentary film directed and written by Anthony Renard Reed. It is about nine USA-born, African American women, who ran 26.2-mile marathons in under three hours and were inducted into the National Black Distance Running Hall of Fame.
The film features Marilyn Bevans, who became the first African American woman to run a sub-three-hour marathon at the Boston Marathon, as well as Samia Akbar, Michele Bush-Cuke, Sika Henry, Michele Tiff-Hill, Ingrid Walters and Shawanna White, who also ran sub-three-hour marathons and were all inducted into the National Black Distance Running Hall of Fame in 2022. Alisa Harvey and Ella Willis-Glaze are also featured in the film.
The chief videographer and editor was Kayla Key, who also was the voiceover for each of interviewee introductions. Bridgette L. Collins was the voice of Harriet Tubman and Nita Peters McKeethen was the trailer voiceover.

### Documentary sections

The documentary is divided into four major sections. The first section opens up by focusing on the relationships between Harriet Tubman, slaves running for freedom, and the National Black Marathoners Association's 1865 “Free to Run” logo. Next, it defines the marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards like running 105 laps around a quarter-mile track. To run a marathon in under three hours, each lap must be faster than one-minute, forty-three seconds.
The second section consists of introducing each woman's accomplishments and individual interviews. The third section focuses on the collective challenges which the runners faced, such as racism, sexism, work-life balance, religion, crashes, breast cancer, and body shaming. The last segment brings to Marilyn Bevans’ return to the 2022 Boston Marathon, where she was an official starter. Graci Gonzales, an up-and-coming nationally ranked, six-year-old and under distance runner, is introduced. The documentary closes with a music video for (Welcome to the) Marathon by Dallas-area rapper, Solo Texas.

### Production

Filming for the interviews and introductions took place between August 15 and 29, 2021 in Tucson, Arizona; Boston, Massachusetts; Detroit, Michigan; Baltimore, Maryland; and Alexandria, Virginia. Youth from the Boston Lion Track Club, MetroCobras Track Club, and Boston United Track Club. The chief videographer and editor was Kayla Key. The closing scenes, which featured Marilyn Bevans, were recorded by Anthony Renard Reed at the 2022 Boston Marathon.

### Reception

In The Washington Post, Kelyn Soong wrote in April 2023 that the documentary has caused "renewed attention" to the "exclusive list of Black American female marathoners to break the three-hour barrier," their stories, and "the fact that relatively few Black American women have broken the three-hour marathon barrier."

### Honors and awards

The documentary and two ten-minute shorts received various awards at 2022 film festivals, including
* Seattle Film Festival - Best Sports Documentary Feature Film and Best Original Song for a Feature Film.
* The NewsFest True Stories International Film and Writers’ Festival - Best Music, Best News Story/Public Information, and Best Short Documentary Under 13 Minutes.
* WRPN Women's International Film Festival - Exceptional Merit Award
* New York Independent Cinema Awards - Award Nominee
It received official selections to be shown at the Toronto International Women's Film Festival, Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival, San Antonio Black International Film Festival, Visions of the Black Experience, Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association Film Festival, Sweden's Boden International Film Festival, and the Minute Madness Toronto Film Festival

## Documentary - We ARE Distance Runners: Untold Stories of African American Athletes

We ARE Distance Runners: Untold Stories of African American Athletes is a 2024 feature-length documentary film directed and written by Anthony Renard Reed. It is about dispelling the myth that African Americans are sprinters and not distance runners by profiling seven African American distance runners, who were inducted into the National Black Distance Running Hall of Fame.
The film features nationally ranked milers and two-milers Ronald and Richard “Dick” Gregory from Saint Louis, MO. Richard Gregory ran 3,500 miles from Los Angeles to New York City. Ronald Gregory was the national high school recordholder for the one- and two-mile. Theordore “Ted” Corbitt was the first African American to compete in the Olympic marathon (26.2 miles/42.2K) and conceived of routing the New York City Marathon course through the city's five boroughs.
The film also includes Saint Louisans, Shalisa “Lisa” Davis and Anthony Renard Reed. They both completed the marathon hat trick, which consists of running at least one hundred marathons, a marathon in every US state, and a marathon on the seven continents. Anthony Renard Reed is the first Black in the world to run marathons on all seven continents in 2007. Ten years later, Shalisa Davis set the world record for running marathons on all the continents in seven days, thirty minutes, twenty-seven seconds. Finally, it includes, Oakland, CA runners, Lisa Felder who completed over 345 marathons and over 110 ultramarathons, and Alphonzo Jackson, who was ranked in the top three in world in his age group for the 5K and half marathon, have coached over 30,000 runners.
The videographers were Luis Escobar, Kayla Key, Anthony Renard Reed, and Brian Young. Nita Peters McKeethen was the voiceover for the film and trailer.

### Documentary Sections

The documentary is divided into four major sections. The first section opens up showing collegiate 100-meter sprinters at the NCAA championship. It states the myth that African Americans are sprinters and not distance runners and disputes the myth by showing National Black Distance Running Hall of Fame inductee, Shawanna White, crossing the finish line at the Cincinnati Flying Pig race.
The second section consists of introducing each runner's accomplishments and individual interviews. It opens by introducing the first two Blacks, who competed in Olympic marathon, which was held in Saint Louis in 1904. Next, it highlights Sumner High School, which was the first high school built for African Americans west of the Mississippi.
The third section focuses on the collective challenges which the runners faced, such as setting records, making world history, being involved in the community, running on trails, playing mind games during races, and running memorable races.
The final segment opens with Anthony Renard Reed talking about the possible slavery origin of the myth that “African Americans are not distance runners” because if slaves were allowed to run long distances, they would have run to freedom. The final scene was recorded at the site of the Windsor Plantation, outside of Port Gibson, Mississippi, where his great-grandfather, Benjamin Coleman was a slave. The film closes with the voiceover repeating that individuals should not restrict themselves based on someone's opinion.

### Production

The Richard Gregory interview was recorded in Dallas, Texas on December 10, 2017. Filming for the other interviews and introductions took place between March 19, 2023, and July 31, 2023, in Oakland, California, Chicago, Illinois, Cincinnati, Ohio, Port Gibson, Mississippi, Saint Louis, Missouri, Austin, Texas, Cedar Hill, Texas, Dallas, Texas, Suffolk, Virginia, and Williamsburg, Virginia.

### Honors and Awards

The feature-length documentary and related documentary shorts received various awards at 2023 and 2024 film festivals, including
* Global Film Festival Awards, Los Angeles, CA, 2023 Winner - Best Feature Documentary
* Oniros Film Awards, New York, NY, 2023 Winner - Best Biographical Film
* The Independent Creators Expo (ICE) CineFest, Cincinnati, OH, 2024 Winner - Best Feature Documentary and Best Biographical Feature Film
* Oniros Film Awards, New York, NY, 2023 Finalist - Best Sports Film
* New York International Film Awards, 2023 Honorable Mention - Best Inspirational Film
* Oniros Film Awards, New York, NY, 2023 Honorable Mention - Best Inspirational Film
* Black History Film Festival, DC & Atlanta, 2024 Honorable Mention - Best Feature Documentary
* The People's Film Festival, Harlem, NY, 2024 Honorable Mention - Best Feature Documentary
* ATX Short Film Showcase - Austin's Monthly Film Festival, Austin, TX, 2024 Honorable Mention - Best Short Film - TX Showcase
* Luleå International Film Festival, Sweden, 2023 Semi-Finalist - Best Short Documentary
* WRPN Women's International Film Festival, Rehoboth Beach, DE, 2024 Exceptional Merit - Best Feature Documentary and Best Sports Documentary
* The Black Panther International Short Film Festival, India, 2023 Award Nominee - Best Women's Short Documentary
* NewsFest — True Stories International Film and Writers Festival, Pasadena, CA, 2023 Award Nominees - Best Documentary News Story Over 30 Minutes, Best Family History Story, Best True Story (Documentary Style), and Most Inspiring
* Seattle Film Festival, Seattle, WA, 2024 Award Nominee - Best Short Sports Doc
* Orlando Urban Film Festival, Orlando, FL, 2024 Award Nominees - Best Feature Documentary, Best Social Impact Film, Veteran & Military Award For Best Film/Documentary, and Best Documentarian
It also received official selections at the:
* Crown Point International Film Festival, Chicago, IL
* Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival, Cleveland, OH
* Stockholm City Film Festival – Monthly, Sweden
* St. Louis International Film Festival, St. Louis, MO
* Austin Lift-Off Film Festival, Austin, TX
* Seattle Film Festival, Seattle, WA
* Freedom Festival International, Columbia, SC