:Draft:Breaking Three Hours: Trailblazing African American Women Marathoners
Breaking Three Hours redirects to National Black Marathoners Association where much of this appears to have been merged?
{{Short description|Documentary film about African American women marathoners.}}
{{Orphan|date=February 2025}}
File:Breaking_Three_Hours-_Trailblazing_African_American_Women_Marathoners_PR_Poster.jpg
Breaking Three Hours: Trailblazing African American Women Marathoners{{Cite web |last=Bakoulis |first=Gordon |date=February 10, 2022 |title="Breaking Three Hours" Film Celebrates Black Women Trailblazers |url=https://www.nyrr.org/run/photos-and-stories/2022/breaking-three-hours |access-date=February 10, 2022 |website=New York Road Runners}}{{Cite web |last1=Layman |first1=Tom |last2=Middlebrook |first2=Hailey |last3=Hatler |first3=Chris |date=February 20, 2023 |title=The Best Running Documentaries That Motivate and Inspire |url=https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a20856267/the-best-running-documentaries/ |access-date=February 20, 2023 |website=Runner's World}}{{Cite web |title=Breaking Three Hours: Trailblazing African American Women Marathoners |url=http://breakingthreehours.com/ |website=Breaking Three Hours: Trailblazing African American Women Marathoners}} is a 2022 feature-length documentary film directed and written by Anthony Renard Reed.{{Cite web |last=Burtka |first=Allison Torres |date=March 2, 2023 |title=Only 28 US-born Black women have broken three hours in the marathon. Why? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/mar/02/only-28-us-born-black-women-have-broken-three-hours-in-the-marathon-why |access-date=March 2, 2023 |website=The Guardian}} 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.{{Cite web |title=National Black Distance Running Hall of Fame |url=https://blackmarathoners.org/nat.-black-distance-running-hall-of-fame.shtml |website=National Black Marathoners Association}}
The film features Marilyn Bevans, who became the first African American woman to run a sub-three-hour marathon{{cite news |last1=Soong |first1=Kelyn |date=28 April 2023 |title=Black American female runners are blazing a new trail in the marathon |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/04/28/black-american-women-marathoners/ |access-date=3 June 2023 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en}} at the Boston Marathon,{{Cite web |title=Boston Marathon history - Boston Globe |url=http://archive.boston.com/marathon/history/1975.shtml#:~:text=In%20the%20women%27s%20division,%20West%20Germany%27s%20Liane%20Winter,22,%201975...%20he%20ran%20a%20record%20(2:09.55)%20Marathon |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=archive.boston.com}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Springer |first1=Scott |date=April 24, 2022 |title='It's been inspiring to see the doors open.' Black runners group to convene at Flying Pig |url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/Ohio/2022/04/25/2022-flying-pig-marathon-host-national-black-marathoners-summit/7403758001/ |access-date=3 June 2023 |work=The Cincinnati Enquirer}}{{Cite web |title=Michele Tiff-Hill: From Piano Phenom to Olympic Trials Qualifier and Coach |url=https://www.fleetfeet.com/blog/michele-tiff-hill |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=Fleet Feet |language=en}}{{cite web |date=22 June 2020 |title=A conversation with Samia Akbar |url=https://fast-women.org/2020/06/22/a-conversation-with-samia-akbar/}}{{Cite web |last=rabbit |title=Women's History Month - rabbitELITE, Shawanna White |url=https://www.runinrabbit.com/pages/womens-history-month-rabbitelite-shawanna-white |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=rabbit |language=en}} Alisa Harvey{{Cite web |date=February 9, 2023 |title="Breaking Three Hours" Celebrates Black American Women Sub-3:00 Marathoners |url=https://www.nyrr.org/run/photos-and-stories/2023/breaking-three-hours-release |access-date=February 9, 2023 |website=New York Road Runners}} 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,{{Cite web |date=June 21, 2021 |title=Graci Gonzales |url=https://www.annistonstar.com/graci-gonzales/image_a0c5fa86-d604-11eb-a06b-cba89c2be0a1.html |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=The Anniston Star |language=en}} 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{{Cite web |title=2022 Winners |url=https://www.theseattlefilmfestival.com/2022nominations |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=Mysite |language=en}} - Best Sports Documentary Feature Film and Best Original Song for a Feature Film.
- The NewsFest True Stories International Film and Writers’ Festival{{Cite web |title=News Festival |url=https://www.thenewsfest.com/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=Thenewsfest |language=en}} - Best Music, Best News Story/Public Information, and Best Short Documentary Under 13 Minutes.
- WRPN Women's International Film Festival{{Cite web |title=WRPN.tv Women's International Film Festival |url=https://www.wwiff.com/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=www.wwiff.com}} - Exceptional Merit Award
- New York Independent Cinema Awards{{Cite web |title=New York Cinema Awards |url=https://www.nycinemaawards.com/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=New York Awards |language=en}} - Award Nominee
It received official selections to be shown at the Toronto International Women's Film Festival,{{Cite web |title=Toronto Women Film Festival |url=https://www.torontowomenfilmfestival.com/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=Toronto Women Film |language=en}} Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival,{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.whistleblowersummit.com/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=www.whistleblowersummit.com}} San Antonio Black International Film Festival,{{Cite web |title=San Antonio Black International Film Festival |url=https://www.sabiff.tv/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=San Antonio Black International Film Festival |language=en}} Visions of the Black Experience,{{Cite web |title=Visions of the Black Experience film series Nov 10 - 12, 2022 |url=http://visionsoftheblackexperience.com/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=Visions of the Black Experience film series November 12–21, 2021 |language=en}} Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association Film Festival,{{Cite web |last=AudPop |title=2022 BESLA Film Festival |url=https://audpop.com/besla/2022beslafilmfestival |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=AudPop |language=en}} Sweden's Boden International Film Festival,{{Cite web |title=Boden Films |url=https://bodenfilmfestival.se/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=Boden Films}} and the Minute Madness Toronto Film Festival{{Cite web |title=Minute Madness Toronto |url=https://minutemadnessto.weebly.com/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=minutemadnessto.weebly.com |language=en}}
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