National Black Marathoners Association

The National Black Marathoners' Association  (NBMA) is a not-for-profit runners' organization. The executive director and co-founder is Anthony (Tony) Reed, the first Black person in the world to run marathons on all seven continents in 2007. It was formed in 2004 and held its first Annual Summit at the 2005 Lewis and Clark Marathon in St. Charles, Missouri. The organization offers college scholarships to high school distance runners. In 2013, it recognized the accomplishments of African American distance runners through its National Black Distance Running Hall of Fame and Achievement Awards Events. The organization is open to everyone, regardless of their running or walking ability or distance.

In 2021, they focused on African American women runners  with the documentary, Breaking Three Hours: Trailblazing African American Women Marathoners.

National Black Marathoners Association “1865 Free to Run” Logo
Since 2004, the National Black Marathoners' Association's (NBMA) official logo has been a symbolic race number. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished "slavery and involuntary servitude" on December 6, 1865. After that date, Blacks were supposed to be "Free to Run" without interference.

Annual summits
The Association's annual summits are occasionally held in partnership with major races including the 2018 Baltimore Running Festival, the 2019 Little Rock Marathon, the 2020 St. Jude Marathon, and 2021 Flying Pig Marathon.

Film
Breaking Three Hours: Trailblazing African American Women Marathoners  is a 2022 feature length documentary film directed and written by Anthony Renard Reed. 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.

The film features Marilyn Bevans, who became the first African American woman to run a sub-three-hour marathon at the Boston Marathon, 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. Alisa Harvey 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, 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 - Best Sports Documentary Feature Film and Best Original Song for a Feature Film.
 * The NewsFest True Stories International Film and Writers’ Festival - Best Music, Best News Story/Public Information, and Best Short Documentary Under 13 Minutes.
 * WRPN Women's International Film Festival - Exceptional Merit Award
 * New York Independent Cinema Awards - Award Nominee

It received official selections to be shown at the Toronto International Women's Film Festival, Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival, San Antonio Black International Film Festival, Visions of the Black Experience, Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association Film Festival, Sweden's Boden International Film Festival, and the Minute Madness Toronto Film Festival