Native Women Running prepare to compete in the Boston Marathon

Verna Volker – the founder of Native Women Running – says it acts as a safe space for Native women, who run for healing, ceremony and medicine. She believes a lot of the women are carrying historical trauma and running has become a way to grieve and heal. She has run previously to highlight the plight of Missing and murdered Indigenous women and says non-Native people don’t realise that Native American people view these women as their own relatives. Volker wants to inspire little girls to run and says the prospect of completing the Boston marathon with her own team of runners is unreal. We hear the story of how sport is helping a refugee from Ukraine living in Poland. Yuliia describes her arduous journey from Kyiv to Tychy, leaving her husband behind in Ukraine and the generosity of Polish people. The American Football team her husband plays for in Poland have been providing her with support and a place to stay. She’s a dance teacher by trade and has been teaching classes in Poland and sending any money she makes back to Ukraine. The head of academy sports medicine and science at Tottenham Hotspur – Laurence Gant – joins us to discuss his bike ride across Great Britain in memory of his friend and former Spurs Under 23s coach Ugo Ehiogu. Ugo passed away five years ago and to mark the anniversary, Gant has cycled between all the football clubs that Ugo played for across a five-day period this week. He started at Glasgow Rangers and we speak to him before he sets off on the final leg of his journey to Aston Villa. John Hunt joins us live from Aintree Racecourse ahead of the Grand National, Iain Carter brings us the latest from the Masters at Augusta and Juliette Ferrington is live at Goodison Park ahead of Everton’s game against Manchester United.