Sport

Boston Marathon adds option for nonbinary runners to register

Athletes applying for the April 2023 race can identify themselves as non-binary for the first time

Runners take part in the Boston Marathon on April 18th. Photograph: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Runners take part in the Boston Marathon on April 18th. Photograph: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Amanda Holpuch
Tue Sept 13 2022 - 19:20

Nonbinary athletes will be able to compete in next year’s Boston Marathon, one of the most popular running events in the world, without having to register in the men’s or women’s division, race organisers announced on Monday.

Registration for the April 2023 race opened Monday, and the organisers, the Boston Athletic Association, said runners could identify themselves as nonbinary on the application.

The Boston Athletic Association said in a statement that the organisation did not have enough data to establish qualifying times specific for nonbinary runners in the Boston Marathon since it is the first time that they will be allowed to register. Nonbinary runners will instead need to meet qualifying times that match the times used for the women’s division, which organisers said were inclusive of the standards for the two existing divisions, to enter the race.

“As we prepare for future races, participants can expect nonbinary times to be updated accordingly,” organisers said in the statement. “We view this first year as an opportunity to learn and grow together.”

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The 2023 Boston Marathon is set to have a field of 30,000 participants. Runners who meet the qualifying times are not guaranteed a spot in the race, which is one of the most prestigious marathons in the world.

More than 200 races in the United States have created nonbinary divisions or allow people to register as nonbinary, according to a database created by Jake Fedorowski, a marathon runner who also created a guide for nonbinary inclusion in running for race organisers.

In April, the Brooklyn Marathon & Half Marathon, organised by New York City Runs, had 82 finishers in the nonbinary division. In September 2021, the Philadelphia Distance Run became the first road race to have a nonbinary division and to award equal prize money to winners in the nonbinary, women’s and men’s divisions.

— New York Times

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