Siân Longthorpe’s record breaking time of 18 minutes and 53 seconds in the Porthcawl Parkrun highlights all that is wrong with a policy that allows runners to self-declare their sex and then pick up records and awards.
Longthorpe finished the race over a minute ahead of Anneliese Loveluck, according to the Parkrun website. But it is Loveluck’s name that we should remember. She appears to have set the fastest time in that race for a biological female – someone who was born as a girl and who went through female puberty. Her experience in life has been rather different to mine and Longthorpe’s. Like me, Longthorpe is a ‘transwoman’. We are male – our bodies developed differently. And – on average – male bodies can be propelled faster around a 5 km course than female bodies.
In Parkrun’s world a woman is anyone who says they are a woman.
Everybody knows this is true. Indeed, it is the reason why separate categories are kept for men and women. If men had no advantage, there would be no need for separate women’s records – we could all compete together.
Sport has been in crisis in recent years trying to satisfy the demands of the rainbow lobby to include transwomen in the female category. Various rules on blood testosterone have been tried. All are arbitrary and all are unsatisfactory; if sex matters, then sex matters. But Parkrun takes an even more ludicrous approach – runners can simply self-identify their sex. In their world a woman is anyone who says they are a woman.
To be fair on the organisation, they have no way of checking anyone’s testosterone levels at 8.30 am on a Saturday morning in South Wales, or anywhere else in the UK. But they have gotten this policy very wrong. Parkrun might not be able to check everybody’s ‘sex recorded at birth’ either, but the organisation could easily disqualify the times of those who defy reality.
The irony is that Parkrun is an event where everyone does run alongside each other. Yes, the faster runners might start closer to the line than people of my physique. Those planning to walk start closer to the back, maybe making conversation with the tail walkers from beginning to end. But there is no separate race for men and women, or young and old. Parkrun is genuinely sport for all. Transwomen – and transmen as well – run their race in the same way as everyone else.
But crucially, separate records are maintained for women and men. That way women can compete fairly against each other and compare their times with other women on that course and others. Including Longthorpe’s data in that category makes that virtually impossible. How many of the other fast times in the female category were set by male runners? We don’t know.
Parkrun needs to change this policy. A virtual free-for-all has the potential to destroy women’s sport. But it is also bringing transwomen into disrepute. Those of us who are simply going about our daily business without encroaching on women’s spaces and women’s records are experiencing more suspicion in society, and our motives are being called into question.
This pretence that we really are women for all purposes is doing nobody any favours. We need a hasty return to reality. Everyone can run the course alongside each other but when records are kept, classifications must be meaningful. And – most importantly – congratulations to Anneliese Loveluck!
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