Calgary’s Love is Love Mile does away with gender categories
The Run Calgary Love is Love Mile will separate runners by ability level, not gender
Between August 28 and September 6, Calgary will host its first Pride race, made possible by a partnership between Calgary Pride and Run Calgary. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this year’s event will be virtual, but the Love is Love Mile will still feel like you’re running with a community. Participants can register online and complete a one-mile run, walk, jog or wheel anytime during Calgary’s Pride Week.
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James Demers is the executive director of the Diversity Education Program for the Calgary Queer Arts Society. Demers has been a lifelong athlete, who’s a powerlifter and personal trainer, and will be running the Love is Love Mile. “Run Calgary wanted to do a fundraiser for Pride and approached us. We started talking about the gender categories on the race form and decided to separate runners based on ability as opposed to gender.” Demers give big kudos to the organization and cites them as “the only sporting organization I’ve ever worked with who deleted the gender category on the form while I was on the phone with them.”
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Demers feels like sport doesn’t need to be categorized by gender: “Most transgender and non-binary people are forced out of sport for many reasons, so they give up. But then I also see people get to the Olympic level and have no place to compete. I feel like we should all get to have fun. I don’t want people to give this up just because someone else doesn’t think it’s possible.”
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Runners will enter the event and give their name and address as usual, but instead of identifying themselves by gender, they’ll self-select their ability level. The options are: cheetah heat (sub-six-minute mile), hare heat (sub-nine-minute mile), wolverine heat (sub-10:30 mile), panda heat (sub-12 mile) and tortoise heat (for walkers).
Demers hopes this is a tradition that continues. Runners can register for only $25, which comes with a swag bag, like at any other race. “Virtual racing is interesting – I think these races are a really good idea. While we can’t run shoulder-to-shoulder right now, there’s no reason we can’t compete.
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