Is he (or is it they) really Non Binary?

[Justme56]

https://marathonhandbook.com/did-a-runner-exploit-bostons-non-binary-qualifying-standards/

I saw this being discussed on X.

Interesting... the times are quite a range. Assuming there's a limit for the number of participants in each category, and Non Binary (until the idea catches on) seems to be pretty small, you could get someone from any age group in there or potentially someone who had a disability too as long as they were running.

Also it looks like the first woman finisher was 35th and only 13 minutes behind the race winner. Whit Blair, the first NB runner was 69th so could technically have been female.

Overall you're going to get the bimodal distribution, but perhaps since a marathon is such a long race, it's not going to be as spread as a shorter race or a pure strength based sport like weight lifting would be.

Looking at the qualifying times it seems like they've done the very scientific thing of adding 30 minutes to the men's qualifying time in each age group to give the women's (and NB) qualifying time. Presumably the time limits for men and women reflect the performance of the number of people likely to enter in a given category such that they can easily fill the category with the best runners they can find.

This level of stupidity is really something to behold. "As participation in the non-binary division increases, the B.A.A. will soon have enough data to establish time standards that reflect the actual performance range of non-binary entrants, rather than borrowing from an existing gender category.
That process may take several years" - so non-binary people are obviously different types of humans from everyone else, and who knows how fast those types of humans run? We need to observe them running for several years to find out. As this is a selective race - only good runners can qualify for the male and female categories - presumably the fastest runners who don't think they have a shot at doing well in the male race will top the non-binary race. This will demonstrate that non-binary people are slower runners than males. So a boy who is bad at sport is more likely to be non-binary than a boy who is good at sport. I wonder whether anyone will notice that non-binary people who happen to have penises tend to do better at sport than non-binary people who happen to have vaginas? That's presumably just a coincidence.

Are you being funny?

Whit Blair is male, having previously competed in races in the male category, including in a 1/2 marathon race in March 2025 which Blair won. The Boston Marathon 2025 was in April.

He is as much non-binary as anyone is.

That article does not respect they's pronouns at all😐

Sad times

What's funny about that? Pips Bunce is a British banking executive who identifies as non-binary and gender fluid. They were assigned male at birth and kept their non-binariness hidden while they established their banking career. They then started to change their expressed gender several times a week. They've explained that it's like getting up in the morning and realising that you feel like wearing a certain colour. So on some days they dress as a man and use a male name. On the other days they dress as a woman and use a female name. This has won them fame and fortune.
But it isn't clear to me how being non-binary fits into that. Is Pips Bunce always non-binary, or are they non-binary one day, a woman the next and a man on the 3rd day?
Transformed: The Credit Suisse director known as Pippa and Philip

Plenty of "non-binary" people compete in sports in their sex category when there is no other option, so you really say you can't be "non binary" if sometimes you compete as your sex.

Which shows the whole thing is complete nonsense.
If they had a category for those who taking cross sex hormones, there would at least be a justification for it. (Scientifically, morally is a different discussion)

Oh for goodness' sake! How can people be so dim?

Um, um, is he EXPLOITING the NB category by just... SAYING he's NB!? When he's actually male!? Lawks-a-mercy, hold the front page! 🤦🏻‍♀️

How can anyone write this without being aware that claiming to be NB, whenever you feel like it, is all there is to it - and the same goes for any kind of trans or pronounery. And that that is actually why, yes, people men are exploiting it! Whodathunkit!

It is always funny to remember there have been comments in the past that they needed a male and a female non binary category, so split out the sexes, for fairness.

However, in saying that, there has been a female entering and winning some of the US city marathons. Cal Calamba. She uses testosterone so I guess this gives her an avenue to compete.

I find it perplexing though when some of the marathons give equal prize money that matches the male and female categories. Because usually these athletes are way down the rankings, begging the question of why they should be rewarded in this way.

I'd love for a true believer to explain to me why Peter Abraham Kwayu is taking advantage but Whit Blair is a genuine NB.

Of course that might just reflect other marathons not have a non-binary option, or this person being 'gender fluid'. All very absurd and it would funny if it didn't mean more spaces for people assigned a penis at birth.

Can any high level runners comment on whether drug use is frowned on for amateur competitors?

Apparently he ran in another marathon in the male section even though there was also a non binary section. The difference being that in this marathon he's not a fast enough runner to be accepted into the men's section.

That would be because he thinks feminine thoughts about pink fluffy things as he runs.

Non binary is nonsense that doesn't exist.

Or rather, it is universal. No one confirms themselves purely to one set of sexist stereotypes so absolutely everyone is non binary.

He is a cheating man with a mental health condition.

He's not cheating though. Not according to the rules as they stand.
I think it highlights the stupidity of the situation very well.
I'd rather he ran in the NB race than the women's race.
And you don't know if he has a mental health condition.

Please fill me in when that doesn't happens.

😮 Thems not cheating and how very transphobic of you to assume they has a mental health condition.
NB is valid.

I mean, much of this could be solved if organisations just acknowledged that sport has categories of sex, not gender.

The widespread conflation of sex and gender has a lot to answer for, imo.

Well quite, it is quite simply staggering that they think they need "years" of data to figure out how this ends.

There are literally only three ways this can go.

The first outcome is that the data will indicate that the qualifying time for the NB category should be higher than the men's qualifying time. I think we can safely rule that one out.

The second outcome is that the data will indicate that the qualifying time should be lower than the current women's qualifying time. This seems almost as unlikely, given that the data will be based the performance of a mix of male and female runners who have already met or exceed the current women's qualifying time.

Therefore, the entirely predictable outcome will be that data will indicate that the average performance of runners in the NB category falls somewhere between that of runners in the men's and women's category. Presenting the Boston Marathon with the uncomfortable reality that "reflecting the actual performance range" of the athletes will inevitably mean setting the NB qualifying time above that of the women's race, thus meaning that NB females will actually have to be faster than non-NB women in order to compete in a category that is supposed to increase inclusiveness.

One would assume that faced with this blindingly obvious discrimination against female NB runners, that they will quietly choose to stick with the current status quo, thus giving the poor second-rate men a second chance at qualifying. Of course, if there are enough of them, then they might push out all the female NBs anyway.

It really is a men's rights movement, isn't it?

I made a graph 😊

To be fair, it looks like there are 4 sets

1. very fast runners
2. very slow runners
3. mid level NB group A
4. mid level NB group B

Actually there would be a tendency to cluster around the F average anyway I guess, if most of the males in the NB category were ones who couldn't make the M qualifying time, but the F qualifying time remains the same regardless of special identity 🤔