I was beaten to third place in a running race by a trans woman

The most neutral thing I can think if is to write to the EAA and say exactly what you've said here - that you were beaten into 4th place by a transwoman and you would like to understand what their rules are. That way you show the EAA that people notice and it matters, without giving this particular person a hard time.

Yes, I think this would be a good route to take. (If you are sure that they are actually male)

To not make a fuss about this would be as wrong as not making a fuss if someone decided to get a prize for doing it on a bicycle, or if a 25-year-old decided to get a prize for an under-14s race, or if someone decided they were going to do one lap less than everyone else.

This person cheating is bad, but it's just an individual being self-serving, because they know they can get away with it.

Others letting them get away with it is far worse, because of what it signals to everyone else about the acceptability of cheating, and how people will keep quiet rather than stand up against things that are wrong.

When people are quiet about people doing bad things, they are "being kind" to bad people, at the expense of the good people who are not cheating. Why should you want to favour bad people?

(The pragmatic reason, of course, is that bad people are more likely to take it out on you if you don't favour them, but that's no way to run a society).

A 'younger woman' is not the same thing as a biological male. Which as a class are banned from running with biological females for obvious reasons. This particular male has a special exemption under which a group agreement of an illusion of their being female has been imposed.

It is fundamentally unfair and sexist on every single front.

It's not a 'trans exclusionary' argument, it's the argument for segregating sports fairly, which means by biological sex in recognition of biological differences.
Language matters.

@Softleftpowerstance but what about grassroot boxing matches?

My own view is that in races such as this, you could have easily been beaten by a younger woman. Would this have made you feel differently?
The key word here is 'woman'.
Being a woman and being beaten by another woman is materially different from being a woman and being beaten by a man.

Well unless you know her well enough to ask her testosterone levels I'm going to say you can't do anything.

A man with artificially reduced testosterone levels isn't a woman. He has been through male puberty, and therefore has a male body, male skeleton and male muscle mass.

I assume in fun run type events no one does the checks that they would for more elite levels of sport. But they rely on fairness and honesty, and a transwoman knows that he has gone through male puberty. Someone keen enough to run regularly will know that's an advantage. A 50 year old overweight male couch potato probably would come last in any race, but wouldn't be entering in the first place.

in general I suppose I do tend to think that the trans exclusionary argument is weaker in the case of very low level recreational sport, where no livelihoods, college scholarships, serious accolades, etc are at stake. it does at first glance seem plausible that the needle of the fairness-inclusiveness swingometer might nudge a couple of degrees in the latter direction at this kind of level.

on the other hand, at this kind of level there's no scope whatsoever for the kind of T levels testing which most of the trans lobby appear to accept as a necessary part of fair competition involving trans women.

at the end of the day what matters is the feelings of the female participants of the race. any of them would be well within their rights to complain.

How come I don't hear about trans men competing?

I know you don't need an answer but let's spell it out. A transman has gone through a woman's puberty. If she took testosterone to anything like approaching a male level it would be doping and she would be thrown out. As indeed men in men's sports get thrown out so that's not discrimination.

As for the 'be kind' nonsense, the OP was prepared to accept the person. It was a choice for him/her to overtake, s/he could have thrown the race for third place, and integrity would have been satisfied.

Yes to this.

And the difference in placing as in the two categories says it all.

Cheating, pure and simple.

And congratulations on coming 3rd 💐

It does matter. The trans woman has cheated you out of your rightful place. Slippery slope.

This. Of course it matters. It's cheating plain and simple. Please raise it with the organisers. The more women stand up to this nonsense the more the tide will keep turning

Yet another Man cheating in one way or another.

This really Does matter OP.

You came 2nd not 3rd.

But takimg away fun things for people that mean nothing seems unnecessarily mean

If it means 'nothing' and is just a fun thing, why don't they run in their sexed group and be happy with their 37/92 place?

Like with this person, there's been speculation because of her appearance but no one officially "knows".

I am a bit confused here. Are you saying nobody knows this person's biological sex but assumes it is male or that she has disclosed she is trans to you but it is not generally known?

As it was a mixed race for charity, I don't suppose there are rules about testosterone levels but you could check. However, you would have to be prepared for controversy and for your relationship with other runners, and this person in particular, to be affected. My own view is that in races such as this, you could have easily been beaten by a younger woman. Would this have made you feel differently?

I personally feel that these sort of races are about inclusion and are not the same as competitions in which men and women compete separately.

How come I don't hear about trans men competing?

So women should just "be kind" and give up their places to males? #nothankyou

Of course it matters. It's unfair. Fairness is important.

It matters in school sports, parkrun, charity runs - all of them.

Sports can be a real boost to people's self esteem and mental health and we are trying to keep girls and women in sports as they get older.

Anything that gets in the way of this is important.

OP - you came third, you know it and so do most other people.

I agree with contacting Fair play for women who may be able to help.

But takimg away fun things for people that mean nothing seems unnecessarily mean

Being persuaded that all these individual items are too small, it looks unkind, or unnecessarily mean has added up over time and contributed to where we are today. Senior people with serious responsibilities can not describe a woman as an adult human female without fearing for their jobs and personal safety.

This all makes a mockery of women's sport. Think of all those East Germans a generation ago who were pumped full of drugs and set records. We now know it was wrong and those records weren't fairly set.

Why should a man be allowed to compete in a woman's race if he is taking drugs to reduce his testosterone? What's the difference really - it's still drug assisted.

As for this biological man, it clearly upsets you and that is good enough. How would you feel in another race against him/her? I somehow doubt if you would want to run again.

The whole thing is ludicrous.

But the time to compain about such things was about 5 years ago or whatever.
Sorry, but until something "happened" to yourself, I presume you never spoke up or made a fuss or anything.