Western States releases transgender athlete policy

The Western States Endurance run, one of the oldest 100-mile trail races in North America, released their new policy on transgender athletes on Friday. 

New policy on transgender athletes. https://t.co/PBJzWfN0YD

— Western States 100 (@wser) February 1, 2019

RELATED: Jim Walmsley’s Strava stats from Western States

Western States said, “A male-to-female transgender entrant can register for the race as a female provided the runner has been undergoing continuous, medically supervised hormone treatment for gender transition for at least one year prior to the race.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsN76cABZgo/

They continue, “A female-to-male transgender entrant can register and compete as a male with no restrictions. The only exception is female-to-male transgender runners can no longer register to compete as a female if they have begun hormone treatment related to their gender transition that includes testosterone or any other banned substance.”

The race states that the runner’s declared gender will be accepted at face value. The only reason they’ve chosen to implement a policy is to ensure fairness in competition and awards. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkikvWdgR8j/

RELATED: U Sports approves transgender student-athlete policy

Western States isn’t the only organization to introduce a transgender athlete policy. U Sport, which is the Canadian university sporting league, released a policy in the fall of 2018 indicating that no hormone therapy is necessary to compete as the athlete’s identified gender. The policy allows student-athletes to compete on the team corresponding to either their gender at birth or their gender identity, provided they comply with the Canadian Anti-Doping Program. Their policy was developed by U Sports’ equity committee in consultation with the member institutions.