Nehalim is a religious moshav southeast of Petach Tikva.

Nehalim is introducing a new race to be held on Yom Ha'atzmaut morning, giving enough time for people to finish and get to their Yom Ha'Atzmaut barbecues.

They write on their registration page for the race that in recent years there has been increasing interest in running, and it has also come to the religious community that has its own needs from such a sport. They say there is a need for a race that will be customized for religious people who want to run seriously while adhering to a religious lifestyle.

So, they have designed a race, to take place on Yom Ha'Atzmaut morning, through the moshav and its fields. The race will be unique in the sense that it will basically be two entirely separate races - one for men and another for women - each with a separate starting time and the running course will remain separate for the duration of the race.

The race is a competitive 5km race with an optional (at no additional cost) 2km at the end that is called "FunRun", whatever that means.

The race has drawn criticism on the various forums on the Internet as being primitive, discriminatory, sexist and the like. Personally, I see nothing wrong with it. I see races advertised even in the US as womens-only races. Despite saying this race is unique in having separate starting times, plenty of other races, generally hosted by other religious moshavs and yishuvs, have done this as well. If this is what is required for some people to feel comfortable to go out and run, to improve their health and enjoy the outdoors, I see nothing wrong with it. Just because it is done for religious reasons does not automatically make it bad.