Gender equality for marathon’s elite means men must up the pace

IT WAS designed to give the London Marathon gender equality in one of its most sought-after running categories.

To increase the number of women taking part in the elite amateur Good for Age section of the race, the organisers have made the qualifying time for men harder to achieve, while the times for women have stayed the same.

However, some have complained that the times have been introduced part-way through preparations for next year’s marathon. Runners say this will make it harder for them to hit the new qualification times.

Runners applying for a Good for Age entry in the 2019 London Marathon must achieve the qualifying time at an official marathon between Jan 1 2017 and Aug 10 2018, leaving only a few months to hit the new target.

For tomorrow’s event, men aged 1839 had to have previously run a marathon in under 3:05:00, with women in that age group needing to post 3:45:00 or under. However, next year the 18-39 male runners will need to run a sub three-hour marathon. Men aged 40-44 will need to run sub 3:05:00, while those aged 45-49 will have to run sub 3:10:00, compared with the 3:15:00 needed for this year’s 40-49 qualifiers.

Even if they hit the tough new times, they will not be guaranteed a Good for Age place. If more than 3,000 men or women submit an application, only the fastest will be chosen.

A Good for Age position allows the runners to start ahead of the mass of participants. Qualification is prized by keen amateurs who take part in the world’s great marathons. The London organisers said the application process had been changed “to ensure there is gender parity among registrants”.

However, they refused to reveal figures illustrating the gender imbalance in the Good for Age category last year or in tomorrow’s event.

The changes led to a barrage of criticism from runners who had been training toward the previous times and now find they need a significant amendment to be able to enter the Good for Age category.

Gemma Pearson, from Battle, East Sussex, said her husband Daniel had spent months training to achieve a qualifying time for next year, but that within a day of doing so at last Sunday’s Brighton Marathon the rule changes were announced.

She said: “My husband has been training for months to achieve GFA for the 2019 London Marathon after years of no success in the ballot. Yesterday he achieved a 3:12:43 chip time at the 2018 Brighton Marathon and was, along with the whole family, ecstatic.

“Tonight he is home from work and distraught after effectively putting his life on hold to train hard, as his category’s GFA is now 3:05:00 or under. How do we go about picking him up from the floor?” Gill Ratcliffe wrote on a running website: “These changes should have been announced earlier, before all the hard work put into spring marathons for GFA qualifying, or should start for the 2020 London where nobody will be disappointed after achieving what they thought was a GFA time.”

Nick Jordan, 46, a runner from Kent, said: “Why would you make the changes for next year when everyone has been working towards those times? Anyone with any common sense would make the changes for 2020.”

The organisers defended the move, saying it was designed to ensure an equal balance of men and women taking part in the Good for Age section of the race. Hugh Brasher, marathon director, said: “We think it is right there is gender parity and more age groups for Good for Age applicants.”