The Boston Marathon is held annually on Patriots Day, starting in Hopkinton and ending in Boston. With the new start category, which was recently introduced, non-binary runners can also participate for the first time in addition to male and female starters.
Athletes wishing to compete in the 2023 Boston Marathon in the non-binary start category must meet the women’s qualifying standards: For those runners who are between the ages of 18 and 34 on race day (April 17, 2023), qualifying is required a marathon time of less than 3:30 hours is necessary. In the following age groups, the runners are allowed to run 5-10 minutes longer on the 42.195 kilometers. To register, the non-binary runners must have qualified for participation in the current qualification window with a corresponding marathon time.
What is non-binary gender identity?
The term non-binary is also understood as non-binary gender identity. It reflects a collective term for gender identities from the transgender spectrum who do not want to identify as male or female and see themselves as outside the binary gender order.
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The BAA on non-binary qualifying times
The Boston Athletic Association (BAA) states that it still needs to gain experience to correctly and definitively classify the qualifying times of the non-binary participants. Due to a lack of data, the women’s standard times should therefore include both divisions. For future races, participants can expect that non-binary athletes will have their own qualifying times.
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Qualifying for the 2023 Boston Marathon
However, achieving the required qualifying time and registering for the Boston Marathon 2023 is no guarantee for all athletes that they will actually be included in the starting field. If the number of applicants exceeds the participant limit, only the fastest will get a chance, so that the qualification time may not be sufficient and you will be sorted out from the list of participants. At the last marathon (April 2022), all applicants with a completed qualification time might take part, since the field size of 20,000 runners was not exceeded due to the pandemic.
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How are the non-binary participants scored?
In the results of the 2023 Boston Marathon, the non-binary athletes are to be assigned to a non-binary category. The scope of this category is still unclear. Non-binary categories have already been offered in other BAA events. So far, the BAA has accepted 14 non-binary participants at the half marathon, registration is still open.
By the way: Registration for the traditional Boston Marathon opened on September 12, 2022. If you want to be part of the 127th edition, you can still register up to and including Friday, September 16, 2022 at 5 p.m. (Boston local time).
