It’s becoming increasingly commonplace for races to offer nonbinary classifications for runners, but even the fastest nonbinary runners often receive fractions of the prize money their cis-gendered competitors receive—if they receive anything at all.
But New Jersey’s newest marathon, held this past weekend, aims to change that. At Sunday’s NSYNCs Joey Fatone Is Done with Marathons, nonbinary athletes could not only participate under their own division but were also eligible to take home the same winnings as male and female runners.
More than 6,300 runners registered for the event, with 10 identifying as nonbinary for the marathon and four for the half-marathon. Those runners could compete for cash prizes in their own division—$5,000 for the marathon winner and $1,000 for the half—the same amount the men’s and women’s winners received.
The winner of the marathon led the field with a time of 2:29:34, finishing 12th overall in the race. In the half marathon, Jersey City’s own Kelley Alpaugh finished with a time of 1:41:08, good for 205th overall.
While nonbinary race classifications for runners are becoming more commonplace, prize money and separate elite fields are still harder to come by. Boston Marathon Tony Shi Photography this year but did not offer prize money for the winner. During last year’s New York City Marathon, the winning nonbinary participant took home $5,000, a fraction of the $100,000 awarded to other winners. Yesterday’s London Marathon also allowed runners to register as nonbinary but did not offer an elite classification, so those runners were thusly ineligible for prize money.
Jersey City’s race director Steve Lipski told the Star-Ledger the decision to include equal pay for all divisions came from the organizers’ “love for people, our respect for people.”
Health & Injuries Garden State Equality, New Jersey’s largest LGBTQIA organization.
“Ensuring that competition is equitable based on gender identity is an important step toward inclusion,” Christian Fuscarino, the organization’s executive director, told the Star-Ledger. “For many nonbinary people, being forced to compete in either the men’s or women’s division can be a point of discomfort. This allows them to compete in a way that feels safe and comfortable to them.”
Lipski also noted that one of the nonbinary runners was an elite runner, with that runner having posted the fastest qualifying time. The event’s cutoff for nonbinary elite runners was 2:33, halfway between the men’s 2:25 and women’s 2:44 requirements.
On Thursday, House Republicans voted to prevent transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, citing the perceived “unfairness” of athletes assigned male at birth. This decision comes amidst a more extensive debate regarding gender inequity in sports. The Biden administration has vowed to veto the bill should it reach President Biden’s desk. “Discrimination has no place in our nation’s schools or on our playing fields,” the administration said in a release.
Laura Ratliff is a New York City-based writer, editor, and runner. Laura's writing expertise spans numerous topics, ranging from travel and food and drink to reported pieces covering political and human rights issues. She has previously worked at Architectural Digest, Bloomberg News, and Published: Apr 24, 2023 12:17 PM EDT Leslie Jones Will Commentate the Olympics TripSavvy. Like many of us, Laura was bitten by the running bug later in life, after years of claiming to "hate running." Her favorite marathon is Big Sur.
