Nonbinary runners get own division at Jersey City Marathon

Nonbinary athletes will have their own division and cash prize at the first-ever Jersey City Marathon & Half-Marathon this weekend, officials have announced.

Out of the 6,300 runners registered for the Sunday event, there are 10 nonbinary participants signed up for the marathon and four in the half-marathon, race director Steve Lipski told The Star-Ledger.

The top finishers in the male, female, and nonbinary marathon and half-marathon categories will each receive a $5,000 and $1,000 prize, respectively. 

While nonbinary categories are becoming more common in races, equal prize money is more rare: At Monday’s Boston Marathon, the nonbinary division did not offer any prize money, the outlet noted, while last fall’s New York City Marathon gave the top nonbinary finisher a paltry $5,000 compared to the $100,000 male/female payout.

The decision to include a nonbinary registration and reward, Lipski said, came from the race organizers’ “love for people, our respect for people.”

“Who are we to challenge how they identify,” Lipski, himself a 12-time marathoner, told The Star-Ledger.

The Jersey City marathon’s inclusive move received kudos from Garden State Equality, the state’s largest LGBTQIA organization. 

“Ensuring that competition is equitable based on gender identity is an important step toward inclusion,” executive director Christian Fuscarino told the outlet.

“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,” he added.

“If someone is a race organizer, I would encourage them to consider adding a nonbinary division to their race. They may cast a wider net for those willing to participate.”

Lipski also said that one of the nonbinary runners is an elite runner, or an athlete with the fastest qualifying time. The cutoff for nonbinary elite runners at the Jersey City event was 2 hours and 33 minutes – halfway between the 2:25 time for men and 2:44 for women.

News of the Jersey City Marathon & Half-Marathon’s category update comes amid ongoing controversy about gender and sports. On Thursday, House Republicans voted to bar transgender athletes from women’s competitions, citing the perceived “unfairness” of allowing athletes who were assigned male at birth to compete against cisgender females.

The White House, however, vowed to veto the bill if it ever passed President Biden’s desk.

“Discrimination has no place in our nation’s schools or on our playing fields,” the administration said in a statement.

“Instead of addressing the pressing issues that families and students face today—such as raising teacher pay, keeping guns out of schools, addressing the mental health crisis our youth face, and helping students learn and recover academically from unprecedented disruptions—Congressional Republicans have instead chosen to prioritize policies that discriminate against children.”