Parkrun, trans athletes and fairness to women | Letters
Fiona McAnena of Fair Play For Women says parkrun is already inclusive, and it should not have to be a vehicle for identities as well. Plus other reactions to a piece by Jonathan Liew
For years, women have been asking for fairness in all sporting events, including parkrun. There is nothing “rightwing” about that (Why have rightwingers made even parkrun a battleground for trans people?, 14 February). Any event that reports results separated into male and female categories, as parkrun does, is acknowledging that sex matters in sport.
Many parkrunners value their achievements, which include overall placing by sex and age category, and age-graded score. But parkrun’s policy is that male runners may register as female based on their “identity”. As a result, some female course and age-grade records are held by male runners. The hyperbolic talk of requiring genital checks to change this is disingenuous. Parkrun does not carry out age or sex checks on anyone. All we want is that when parkrun asks people to register by sex and age, it indicates that “sex” means sex at birth, as World Athletics and UK Athletics recommend. Runners who don’t want to state their sex have two other options: “another gender identity” or “prefer not to say”.
