Look at these Bostom Marathon qualifying times.

[Softnatural]

Qualifying for Boston is a really big deal. What's the point?

I recall Boston from previous years but you may need to explain your post to others who aren't. (If I interpret it correctly, all the women and NB events were won by men.)

If they don't make the NB qualifying times the same as the women's times then no female people will qualify for the NB section. But, of course, that makes it easier for male NB people to qualify for that section.... hence all the prizes being won by male people....

I am not the OP and I am not really a runner, but the point here, I believe, is that you can't just enter the Boston Marathon as a fun runner (big difference from the London Marathon). You need a qualifying time and the times are challenging. Most people wouldn't be able to demonstrate that they can run at the required speeds. Correctly and appropriately, they differentiate between female runners and male runners. Women who are elite runners or really, really good club runners could do a marathon in that qualifying time or under. Most women couldn't. Note that the male qualifying times are a lot faster than the female qualifying times. Now note that the non-binary times are the same time as the female times and anybody can self-identify as non-binary with no checks in operation or possible. I wonder which category male runners desperate to get a chance to run in the Boston Marathon would choose if they can't meet the male qualifying times?

As far as I know, every single non-binary event so far has been won by a male. This is not just prestigious but involves prize money. Quelle surprise.

Was this the one where people complained after the first year with an enbie category? IIRC they had said they had no data upon which to base enbie qualifying times, so they set it at the midpoint between the women's and the men's qualifying times.

I'm not sure which is more idiotic.

Yes, that was my only point. They've basically just opened up the entry to make it easier for men to qualify.

They've not set it midway this year, judging by the screenshot in the OP. The NB qualifying times are the same as the women's.

This guarantees it will be won by some mediocre male runners. It's a gift to those middling, not quite good enough to excel in the male category, men.

Such a pointless category unless the aim all along was to give men more medals and more prize money.

Ah, so they've not followed up on last years suggestion, following the predictable outcome, that they should have NB(AMAB) and NB(AFAB) categories (using the silly acronyms)? Shame.

Hm. How many entrants do they take in the NB category? I take it there is a limit..

And do they take those runners with the highest qualifying times up to that limit?

Could a situation arise where the NB category contains only biological males, once a sufficient number catch on to this wheeze?

There were 44 non-binary qualifiers for the 2024 race. Assuming they were all biological men (which is likely), they have stolen those places from someone else.

For those unfamiliar, running a qualifying time does not guarantee you entry. If there are more qualifiers than places, the required time is effectively reduced for everyone. For 2024 a buffer of 5:29 was required in order to be accepted. This applies across all categories. So there were 44 people who ran, say, 5:28 quicker than their qualifying time who did not get a place because those 44 places were taken by people running under the non-binary category (assuming the non-binary places were taken by biological men).

Well no, they're not stealing. NBs have signed up to the counterfactual dogma that they can opt out of gender and that their sex doesn't matter. This is simply a worked example of how well that works. The female NBs have given away their option of winning in their chosen group.

Theft is where males, whether under the guise of TW or NB muscle in on events meant for women (eg the women's tech conference).

Oh xpost. I'm not sure I followed that, @RandomUsernameHere , but if I've got the gist then they stole from other categories - would that be mainly women and older entrants by any chance?

No, it's not stealing.

It just means that there are two men's categories.

One for very good runners and one for mediocre.

And one women's category for very good runners.

Indeed. Tighter than ever this year it seems. Over 11,000 applicants who had achieved the BQ time this year were rejected.

I did a half marathon earlier this year.
There were (fairly generous) cash prizes.
The non binary winner was a man , I think in their 20s.
The men's and all men's vets (including v70) were faster and womens senior, v35, v45 and v55 were faster.
So basically a bloke who was a fairly average runner gets a decent prize....for being quite average. I beat them by about 10 min and got bugger all!

Oh come on, @Fizbosshoes, what you need to understand is that the NB winner is a very special person and you aren't. None of us boring old cunty women are special.

If they didn't qualify under the men's standards then it is stealing though. It's stealing a place from someone else. Or whatever you want to call it.
@ErrolTheDragon that's a good point, my guess would be that it might actually affect young men the most! As 5:29 is a higher percentage of their qualify time.

Context - total number of participants is 30,000

I’m very glad the London Marathon decided there would be no non binary entries for Good For Age runners (a similar system of priority entry based on qualifying time).

How are they even asking people to demonstrate their non binary status?

That is good news. I got a Good for Age place for London in 2020 (obviously, it was cancelled). It was the first year that getting a GFA place wasn't guaranteed if you could prove that you ran a particular time in the previous year, and a set number of places were allocated to the fastest times submitted in the different sex and age groups.

There were a number of people absolutely gutted that they'd finally run a GFA time, but it wasn't enough for a place that year. Women missing out on a place to a biological man would be soul destroying, as well as eminently unfair.

Also I was wondering if anyone knew how many enter under the "invitational entries"

Because I suspect this has been a bigger denier of places to regular entrants than the non-binary category.

The rules about which category you enter (meaning it must match the category in which you qualified) is probably keeping down the number of non-binary entrants, as many accredited events simply do not have that category

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-marathon/2023/04/11/2023-boston-marathon-nonbinary-runners/

OK, I stand corrected. Last year there was no prize money for the NB runners. I don't know if that applies this year.

I don't know whether they do ask.

10 states provide birth certificates with a third gender or X' marker on them for people born there. But since the other states don't, I presume the Boston Marathon just accepts self ID from everyone.

Which reminds me - what is their rule on ID fof the male and female categories?

I have this screenshot from a discussion after last year's Boston marathon. The stats really do say it all.
(Sorry, can't credit the poster as don't have their name in screenshot and couldn't find the post after a quick search)