New York City Marathon Offers Cash Prizes to Nonbinary Runners

For the first time in an Abbott World Marathon Majors event, the 2022 New York Marathon will award cash prizes to the top runners who identify themselves as non-binary. On Tuesday, the New York Road Runners (NYRR) rolled out non-binary time qualifying criteria, team awards, club points and prize money across all his 2022 NYRR races.

In this year’s marathon, non-binary runners placing 1st through 5th will receive cash prizes. The winner will receive $5,000 and the prize will be reduced by $1,000 for each placement. 5th place winner will win $1,000.

CEO of NYRR, Kerrin Hempel Said in a press release The organization says it is “focused on making sure all athletes feel welcome and included.”

The race is the first Abbott World Marathon Major to add a non-binary category (running in 2021), making it an industry leader.

The term non-binary is used by people who do not identify as male or female.

In recent years, many road races have started offering non-binary runner categories. TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon was one of the first major races in North America to offer a non-binary category in 2019. In the 2022 race, 24 nonbinary runners ran the half marathon and 5 completed the marathon.

Boston Marathon and London Marathon announced In September it was announced that the race will include a non-binary category for the first time in 2023.