Philadelphia Marathon to award equal prize money for women’s, men’s and non-binary races

Runners participate in the 2019 Humana Rock n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon on September 15, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Philadelphia Marathon has announced that it will award equal prize money for the women’s, men’s and non-binary races, in an important step towards equality in the sport. 

City officials announced on 22 August that non-binary runners at the Philadelphia Marathon will be awarded the same amount of money. It will award the top finishers in all three categories in the open division at this year’s marathon weekend in Philly, US. 

A half-marathon, 8K, and a full marathon will be taking place between 23 and 24 November, with non-professional athletes being eligible for the prizes. 

Organisers have also opted to “take a face-value approach to monitoring all gender categories” in the open category, meaning that runners can select the gender category which best aligns with their identity. They are also not required to provide any “supporting evidence”, the announcement read.

According to the official website, first-place men, women and non-binary runners will each receive a prize of $4,000. Second place in the categories will each receive $2,000, while third place will be awarded $1,000. 

There is a further $1,000 prize for the first Philadelphian runner in each category, with a $1,000 bonus for the course record-winner for each. 

The top men, women and non-binary runners in the masters category, for those aged 40 and above, will receive $1,000 each.

In the half marathon and the 8k, however, the amount received is smaller. First-place runners in the half marathon will receive $2,500, second place $1,500, third place $1,000, and first-place master $500, with the course record-winner earning $1,000.

Meanwhile, in the 8K, first-place runners will earn $750, second-place $500, third-place $250, and first-place master $250.

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It comes after the non-binary New York City Marathon winner was refused prize money after winning the non-binary division in 2023. 

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