Boston Marathon adds option for non-dual runners next year

Race organizers announced Monday that non-binary athletes will be able to compete in next year’s Boston Marathon, one of the world’s most popular running events, without having to sign up for the men’s or women’s division.

Registration for the April 2023 race opened on Monday, and organizers, the Boston Athletic Association, said runners can identify themselves as non-binary on the app.

Boston Athletic Association He said in a statement The organization did not have enough data to determine specific qualifying times for non-dual runners at the Boston Marathon because it was the first time they had been allowed to register. Non-dualists will instead need to meet qualifying times that match the times used for the women’s division, which organizers said includes the criteria for the current two divisions, to enter the race.

“As we prepare for future races, participants can expect to update non-binary times accordingly,” the organizers said in the statement. “We see this first year as an opportunity to learn and grow together.”

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

Over 200 races in the United States have created non-binary divisions or allowed people to register as non-binary, According to the database Created by Jake Fedorovsky, a marathon runner who has also been Create a directory For non-binary inclusion in running for race organizers.

in April, The Brooklyn Marathon and Half Marathon, organized by the New York City Runs, had 82 races in the non-dual division. In September 2021the Philadelphia Long Distance Race became the first road race to have a non-duplex division and award equal prize money to the winners of the non-dual divisions, both women and men.