About Us
History of Simply Women Ohio
Simply Women Ohio started out as YS Girls Running, organized in June 2009. Paloma Wiggins and the 2009 captain of the cross country team joined together with a desire to create a space in Yellow Springs school-based sports for girls to participate in ways which are meaningful to them. We focused our goals primarily on running sports that first year.
We also needed to raise funds to support our goals. Paloma created the first fundraiser, the Simply Women 5k Run/Walk for Women and Girls, held in Yellow Springs, OH. It was a huge success! Female participants of all ages came out to run, jog, and walk the event. There was a lot of spirit and excitement at and around the event. Some people shared stories of this being their first 5k ever, and how nervous they were at first, but they had a ton of fun in the end. There were moms and daughters participating together, as well as runners and walkers ranging in age from eighty-five to little ones being pushed in strollers. This helped Paloma, and her volunteers, realize the impact and importance of girls and women being active and healthy.
Soon after, it became very apparent that the purpose of this organization was much more than running, and our reach could be broader than school-based sports. As the director of the organization, Paloma changed the name to Simply Women Ohio to more accurately reflect the mission and objectives for the organization. This change made sense as a way to reach more than just high school runners, but girls and women of all ages in and around the community.
Simply Women Ohio Continues to Blaze a Trail for Women’s Athletics
Paloma, Alice, and Molly were interviewed on August 22, 2013 by Wayne Baker at WYSO. Read the article and listen to the interview by clicking Simply Women WYSO Interview.
Inaugural Simply Women 5k 2009
Take a look to the right and view a video of our very first 5k. Special thanks to Susan Gartner of Yellow Springs for putting it together in 2009!