Team Take Down, an African American running group, tackles Anchorage Mayor’s Marathon

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Team Take Down is on a mission: finish a marathon or half marathon, be a majority in the race taken on, and have fun while doing it.

The African American running group, organized by Heather King, is quickly turning into a movement. King said she is based out of Atlanta, but the group hails from around the United States and multiple other countries, too, with one of Saturday’s competitors in Anchorage’s Mayor’s Marathon coming all the way from Zambia.

“Anytime we are the majority, and the face of a race, then that is a ‘take down,’ that is what we set out to do,” King said.

King said Saturday that many of the runners on Team Take Down have a goal of running 50 half or full marathons in 50 states. That goal is easier to reach, she said, when you know that you aren’t going alone. For three of the athletes who ran Saturday, Alaska was their 50th and final state.

There were 462 total finishers in the 2022 Anchorage Mayor’s Marathon, according to final results. Representing Team Take Down, King said, were 40 marathoners, 141 half marathoners and 20 non-runners who were along for the ride.

“Marathoners are 1%, and if you add African Americans, divide that, subtract it, whatever,” King said, Numbers speak volumes.”

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