The Parkrun saga over times for transgender runners staggers on, but the organisation has only itself to blame. For want of a clear policy on sex and gender, Parkrun seems to have upset everyone. Last week, at least one event director quit as the company erased its run records wholesale in what looked like a knee-jerk reaction to a campaign against Parkrun’s view that competitors could self-declare their gender.
This is a fuss that never needed to happen but – like too many other organisations – Parkrun abandoned biological reality when it allowed everyone to choose their sex when it came to their times. Perhaps it imagined that there would be no real downsides and – besides – ‘it’s only a bit of fun, anyway’? But women were right to be furious when it turned out that biological males were taking records from women. Even those finishing halfway down the field push the remaining women one place down in their own sex category.
One thing is clear. Whatever the Guardian might claim, this is not the work of right wingers intent on making Parkrun a battleground for trans people. That sort of hyperbole helps nobody, and it’s just not true. It’s not ‘right wing’ to understand the material reality of biological sex. Indeed, these policy failures across society have come about under a Tory government. Nor must it be forgotten that it was a Conservative Prime Minister – Theresa May – who pledged to introduce changes that would allow people to change their gender without medical checks.
The answer to Parkrun’s problem is simple. Competitors should be instructed to enter their sex and the date of birth shown on their birth certificate or leave the boxes blank. Yes, it would be unfeasible for volunteers to sift through all this data, but the website could add a note to say that anyone found to be supplying false information could have their data deleted. Parkrun records broken down by sex and age could then be restored; if a dispute arose, an uploaded copy of a birth certificate would surely settle it.
I accept that this approach would not please everyone. Around 6,000 trans people in the UK have had their birth certificates updated to show their preferred gender, so the female category would not be watertight. But 6,000 is a lot less than the estimated trans population of ‘200,000 to 500,000’ people. Any further challenge from women’s rights campaigners could be referred to the government to deal with, perhaps as part of a wider review into gender recognition and the impact on women’s services and women’s sport. Any policy needs to be practical and workable; it’s simply not possible for Parkrun to check everyone’s biological sex at 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning.
Trans people would have nothing to worry about from this suggestion. Parkrun allows everyone to ‘prefer not to say’ when registering their ‘gender’. All Parkrun needs to do is replace ‘gender’ with ‘sex’; anyone who does not wish to be included within their own sex class can simply withhold that information. They would still be able to run with everyone else, and could still aim to win a race and have that achievement recorded. Those with my athletic prowess would still be able to take delight in coming 499th overall instead of 500th.
Parkrun’s appeal is that it is for everyone. Yes, it is a bit of fun – though when watching my sons battle for a top 20 finish in under 20 minutes the competitive side becomes all too clear. My role has generally been holding their coats, but if I staggered around after them, I’d enter as a veteran male. It’s only right and – what’s more – there are men to beat, even at my level.
Debbie Hayton is a teacher and journalist.
Her book, Transsexual Apostate – My Journey Back to Reality is published by Forum
* This article was first published by The Spectator on 15 February 2024: It’s not ‘right wingers’ who turned Parkrun into a trans battleground.
Debbie Hayton 
10 replies on “It’s not ‘right wingers’ who turned Parkrun into a trans battleground”
Thanks, Debbie, for always being the voice of sanity. I agree with you completely. Even an unfit male competitor could easily outrun the fittest female competitor. This game of biological musical chairs has to stop and thankfully it seems as if sanity is starting to prevail. Biology is immutable despite the screeching and howling by people of all stripes who have a tenuous grasp on biology (having forgotten their high school classes) and an even more fragile grasp on reality when they claim a man can become a woman by thinking he is one. I have tried and tried and tried and failed to wish myself into billionaire status. Am I doing something wrong, I wonder, if fantasy is that easy?
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I can’t believe they don’t already have a ‘prefer not to say’ option how ridiculous is that?
As to the ‘right wing’ issue I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone on the ‘right’ NOT preface their comments about trans with ‘ I perfectly respect the rights of people to identify as they wish’ Wheras I don’t think I’ve ever heard a pro trans ACTIVIST preface their comments with ‘ I perfectly respect the rights of women to feel safe in their spaces’
Keep up the good work Debbie
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Just a thought on what you said, Pauline. (I may have said this before, and these ideas are pretty obvious, so you may already understand them.) In my thinking about the trans-women-in-women’s-spaces issue, I’ve started to realize that a lot of trans women are misogynists. They say that they feel like women, and supposedly they have the gender identity of women, but the time comes for each of them when he realizes that biology rules, and that he has not achieved actual womanhood. So, ultimately, a trans woman doesn’t develop the identity of a woman, but rather develops the identity of a trans woman (which is a different thing). So, seeing himself as separate from real women, he is open to feelings of envy and contempt. Indeed, I don’t think any trans woman would be talking about “TERFs” if he didn’t feel contempt. Nor would trans women athletes defeat real women at sports if they didn’t feel contempt.
Now, a trans woman who is able to be honest, like Debbie (who acknowledges that she simply feels better about herself when presenting as a woman), has no need to resent or be contemptuous of real women. This idea, of course, works in many areas. I am a poet, but not as talented as my favorite living poet (Alicia Stallings). Instead of resenting Stallings, I admire her and encourage her artistry. Envy is such a pernicious thing, I want no part of it — or at least, when I do feel envy, I can be honest about it.
Honesty among most trans people is what seems to be sorely lacking. I can like an honest trans person, even if that person looks a little strange, but I can’t like a pretender who won’t admit the truth — and especially who makes demands that I respect him for something he is not.
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Debbie didn’t like this comment, so I must have said something she takes exception to. Let me know, Debbie.
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I tend not to press ‘like’ once comments are in response to other comments. I haven’t taken exception to any of your comments – please don’t worry.
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Debbie, my apologies for being insecure. I was worried that I offended you somehow.
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Not at all! I appreciate your insight.
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Of all the sports, I think that running is the one that is most skewed by transgenderism. Running on a track is one thing, as the number of competitors is limited. But I can’t imagine how anyone could ascertain the true sex of everyone in a road race. It seems to me that road race records will never again be reliable.
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Parkrun is a recreational activity staffed by volunteers. If participants do not tell the truth about their age or their sex, they are likely to be caught out only if they do something egregious, or someone else reports them.
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Good
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