Runners are planning a mass protest calling on Parkrun organisers to stop allowing transgender competitors who were born male to register as female. The action follows a unanimous Supreme Court ruling last year that the term woman refers strictly to the biological sex assigned at birth, making it unlawful for organisations not to provide single-sex spaces for women.
Government stance and Parkrun scrutiny
The Government said the decision brought clarity to female sport, after several sporting bodies had already banned transgender women from taking part in female events. However, Parkrun is now facing renewed scrutiny over its policy.
In 2024, the BBC reports, the charity deleted all records from its website when campaigners previously demanded it exclude transgender athletes from its women's category.
Campaigners cite unfair advantage
The group Reality Rules says male-born trans women have an unfair advantage over female competitors and that allowing them to run in the female category amounts to gender discrimination against women. They say trans women post results which push women and girls down the rankings, and the group is now considering legal action citing the Supreme Court judgement.
The Mail on Sunday reports that illustrious female athletes, such as former Olympic swimmer Dame Sharron Davies and world-beating yachtswoman Tracy Edwards, along with the recently founded Women's Sport Union (WSU), are backing the action against Parkrun.
Support and criticism
Baroness Davies told the newspaper: "Parkrun is an amazing thing, but it's not right to pretend there isn't a clear physical benefit to being born male. By all means, get rid of male and female categories and have a free-for-all, or have integrity and do as the Supreme Court says. A women's category is for people born female. Instead, Parkrun is trying to have it every which way. Allowing transwomen to compete as female is not only completely unfair, it is illegal."
Parkrun began with just 13 runners at London's Bushy Park in 2004 but has grown into one of Britain's largest grassroots sporting movements. Participants can run, jog, walk or volunteer.
Fiona McAnena, from the Sex Matters campaign group, said the message from Parkrun to women and girls at the moment was "your achievements don't matter" and that they were putting men's "feelings head of yours".
A spokesman for Parkrun said: "We are a charity offering community-led, socially focused events delivered by volunteers with the aim of improving public health and community cohesion."
