Girls Run Ultras is a 15-minute film that follows the journey of an all-women’s running collective, Girls Run NYC, as they push their limits individually and collectively through the challenges of the 2022 Black Canyon Ultras 60K. It’s an intimate look into a group’s unwavering determination and camaraderie as they conquer the trails together.

The film is co-directed by Ellie Windham and Christine Rivera, and it’s recently been selected as one of eight films for the 2024 Trail Running Film Festival, which starts this week and will tour to more than 50 locations worldwide.

Windham, 39, is from Brooklyn, New York. She is a long-distance runner and works at a local university promoting holistic health.

“I call myself a wellness community builder,” she said. Outside her day job, she identifies as an ultrarunner and a member of various running groups, including Girls Run NYC and Asian Trail Mix, a monthly meetup that travels together to run trails outside New York City.

Windham’s been running with Girls Run NYC for the last eight years, the focus of her new film, Girls Run Ultras. Her longest run was a 72-mile Javelina Jundred last October in Arizona. In February 2020, right before the pandemic struck, members of Girls Run NYC had their first ultrarunning experience at the Black Canyon 60K, an Aravaipa Running race held on the high-desert terrain northwest of Phoenix.

‘Girls Run Ultras’: a Post-Race Idea

The film focuses on the group’s third trip to the race in 2022, which Windham documents both the run and lead-up. Her initial intentions were to just make a run vlog, nothing too professional. “I didn’t go out with the idea of making a mini-doc. I was like, Oh, maybe I’ll do a YouTube video or something,” Windham said. “It was only post-run where I was like, I should do something with this.”

After the race, Windham asked her friend Christine Rivera to help with production, and the two got to work, taking the race footage and reinforcing it with interviews and B-roll. Jessie Zapo is the founder of Girls Run NYC, and she, too, was closely involved in the film production.

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This February, 2023, the team held its first screening in New York City, which attracted more than 100 people.

“I think the film inspires people to see other women doing races. It’s a diverse group of women from all different backgrounds, and we’ve learned a lot about ultras and trail running,” Windham said. “It’s really important to have representation with our voices, and to be in this particular film festival, too, where there are locations it’ll screen that probably won’t have much diversity. It’ll be great for them to see a story like ours.”

“I feel like we’re the trailblazers of women,” Windham adds. “We’re bringing groups out [from the city] and allowing other groups of women to do the same, to self-organize. I think it just helps to encourage other women to step out and do something new, something cool. Trail running is just so addictive.” The film is meant to really underscore the power of women in the running space, telling their own stories, and beautifully.

Trail Running Film Festival executive director Mathias Eichler finds inspiration in the film, to widen his aperture of shared experience. “I’m what you might call ‘a lone wolf runner.’ I’m not part of a running club, and I don’t meet regularly with folks to go on long runs,” he said. “So, when I see stories of folks meeting up to run together, to share, to embrace and lift each other up, I’m reminded how beautiful and enriching this solitary activity of tying our shoes and committing to the daily workout regimen can be.”

And that’s fully aligned with Windham’s goals for the film. It’s all about exposure and access for her, about demystifying the process for those traditionally underrepresented in the sport, and celebrating the collective. She has her sights on the Javelina Jundred 100-miler in the future. But first, Windham be driving to her hometown in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to be present for the screening, one of 50-plus tour dates for the Trail Running Film Festival from mid-March through July.

About the Trail Running Film Festival 

The Trail Running Film Festival is an Olympia, Washington-based festival that offers a national and international schedule of tour dates that will be showcasing eight films this year, in addition to a virtual festival option.

“All these films capture the essence of trail running and will undoubtedly inspire audiences worldwide. We can’t wait to share these remarkable stories with our community,” Eichler said.

Other films in this spring’s lineup include a film about double-amputee runner Brian Reynolds participating in the Leadville 100, Indigenous artist and ultrarunner Yatika Fields as he trains for and attempts the Western States 100, and several others.

Trail Running Film Festival tours dates and film details can be found here.
 
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