Four participants in The Irish Life Dublin Marathon have registered to run in the new nonbinary category. A spokeswoman said there would be medals and prizes for the first three to complete the race in the category. The prize funds will be on-par with other subcategory prizes, such as those for the master age categories, which are for those over 35, rising in increments of five years. First in these categories is awarded €150, with €125 for second and €100 for third.
The spokeswoman said the new category was introduced following consultation with members of the running community “for whom this will make a positive impact, allowing for them to enter in a category that matches their identity”.
“Runners were given the opportunity in August to change their entry to the nonbinary category should they wish to do so. Following that process, four participants will run in the nonbinary category,” she said.
Several prestigious city marathons, including New York, London, Boston and Chicago, already have a nonbinary category. Speaking to The Irish Times earlier this year, race director Jim Aughney said the move was partly prompted by discussions with Dublin Frontrunners, a running club for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“During our discussions with the clubs, particularly Dublin Frontrunners, a number of people said they hadn’t run the event in the past because non-binary wasn’t included. They said they would be delighted to run it in the event of a non-binary category being included,” Mr Aughney said.
He said they would review the number of entries with a view to “improving on it year on year as the category grows”.
The sold-out race, which takes place on Sunday, October 29th, will have a reduced capacity compared to last year. While there were 25,000 participants last year, this has been reduced to 22,500 due to “infrastructure restrictions” around the course.
John Treacy has been chosen as the official race starter, to mark the 30th anniversary of his win in the 1993 Dublin Marathon in a time of 2:14:40.
