New York City Marathon to offer prize money for non-binary runners

For the first time at any Abbot World Marathon Majors event, the 2022 New York Marathon will award prize money to the top runners who identify as non-binary. On Tuesday, New York Road Runners (NYRR) rolled out non-binary time qualifying standards, team awards, club points and prize money throughout all NYRR races in 2022.

At this year’s marathon, non-binary runners finishing first through fifth will receive cash prizes. The winner will receive $5,000, with the prize amount decreasing by $1,000 for each placement; the fifth-place finisher will win $1,000.

NYRR’s CEO, Kerin Hempel, said in a press release that the organization is “focused on ensuring all of our athletes feel welcome and included.”

The race became an industry leader as the first Abbott World Marathon Major to add a non-binary category (which happened in 2021). 

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

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

The Boston and London Marathons announced in September that their races will include non-binary categories for the first time in 2023.