Parkrun removes all records in transgender runner row

Organisation takes drastic action after rejecting calls for it to stop allowing entrants to self-identify their gender

Parkrun has abruptly removed all gender, course and age records from its websites after rejecting a campaign to compel transgender runners to record their sex at birth.
With backing from former Olympic athletes such as swimmer Sharron Davies and marathon runner Mara Yamauchi, groups including Women in Sport and the Policy Exchange have been urging Parkrun to stop allowing entrants to self-identify their gender, accusing event organisers of “sex discrimination”.
The Policy Exchange found that at least three Parkrun female records were held by transgender women and campaigners said that by having publicised records for age, gender, number of wins and courses, Parkrun must follow governing bodies like UK Athletics by protecting a natal category for women and girls.
Parkrun had refused, arguing that it was a community event and public health charity that was primarily about inclusion rather than competitive performance, with records only designed to add interest and widen participation.
Campaigners starkly warned that women and girls risked being alienated by allowing transgender women in the same female category record lists and the Policy Exchange report, which was also backed by tennis great Martina Navratilova and Olympic gold medallist Daley Thompson, recommended that Sports England should require Parkrun to collect data based on biological sex. 
They also wanted all records to be updated to reflect such a change. “If this does not happen within 12 months, taxpayers’ funding should be withdrawn,” said the report.
Campaigners wearing ‘Save Women’s Sports’ slogans have been protesting against the Parkrun policy at events on a weekly basis.
There was concern, however, that adopting a ‘sex at birth’ policy was not appropriate for an event like Parkrun, where all sexes run together, and would discourage transgender people – whose transition might have been entirely private – from gaining the event’s vast health benefits.
Parkrun has now simply decided to remove a raft of data from its websites, including course records, age-category records, world Parkrun records as well as statistics for most wins or for getting under a particular time.
It will still publish the results every week with simply a position, name, gender, age category and time. Participants can also still search up all their run history and age grading, which is a relative measure of the time according to age and gender.
A Parkrun statement is expected later on Thursday afternoon but it is understood that organisers accept that they could have been seen to be presenting the event as a race rather than a community run or walk.
They are also adamant that they had been long considering whether so many ‘performance’ metrics were appropriate and were considering changes regardless of the campaign around gender self identification.
The move, however, will be deeply controversial with the many runners who find the data and competitive element to be a major incentive for participation. Parkrun performance also currently counts towards a competitive athlete’s grading on the Run Britain website.
“Numerous men losing their s— over parkrun deleting/hiding data is quite a revelation,” said Yamauchi following the changes. “I knew men care deeply about their own sports but this is really something. Shame so many of them have had NOTHING to say all these years while their fellow men have decimated women’s sports.”
The campaign group Fair Play For Women added: “Parkrun have been letting men hold female course records. Women complained saying it was unfair. Rather than resolve the issue Parkrun has removed EVERYONE’S records from its website.”
Davies said that it would have been “very easy to add course records for transmen and transwomen”.
She added: “Parkrun have been guilty of sex discrimination for far too long and benefited from millions of pounds in public funding from UK Sport. Keep sport fair for both sexes!”
As well as asking for age and gender, Parkrun allows people to choose ‘prefer not to say’ or ‘another gender identity’ but this would mean that the age category, gender, gender position and age grade fields would be blank in the results.