Run to The Source
When he first started ultra running, Martin Johnson, or MJ, was often the only Black runner on the start line. Covering almost superhuman distances, ultramarathons span any length longer than a marathon's 26.2 miles. MJ has been working to bring greater representation to the sport, and helped form the group Black Trail Runners in the wake of George Floyd's murder by police in 2020.
In Run to the Source, filmmaker Matt Kay follows MJ as he attempts a feat of extreme human endurance. The challenge is to run the 184 miles from the mouth of the Thames in London, to the source in Oxford - all while beating the fastest known time (FKT) of 40 hours and 47 minutes.
Setting off on the first anniversary of George Floyd's murder, MJ is running for, in Kay's words, “something greater" than his own personal achievement. Kay's documentary speaks to this:
