RUNNING IS FOR EVERYONE
At Grandma’s Marathon, we are committed to ensuring all our participants feel a sense of belonging while participating and enjoying our event.
We are committed to making our event accessible, safe, and welcoming to all people regardless of their ability, experience level, identity, and/or financial status, including and especially those from historically underrepresented or marginalized communities and cultures.
Our organization recognizes this work is not nearly done, and that every choice we make comes with the opportunity to make progress for our event and its participants.
Running to Common Ground Program
Our Running to Common Ground program exists to remove financial and societal barriers that may prevent someone from participating in one of our Grandma’s Marathon events. While registration cost is only one of these obstacles, we hope this can be a helpful and important step toward welcoming more participants from these historically underrepresented communities and cultures to our race weekend.
To help accomplish this goal, we’re proud to offer to 500 discounted entries to either Grandma’s Marathon, the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, or the William A. Irvin 5K. Individuals and groups with financial challenges or those coming from underrepresented communities and cultures — including but not limited to BIPOC, LBGTQI+, non-binary, athletes with disabilities — are encouraged to apply.
NOTE: Each application will be reviewed on its own merits, and applications will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. If you’re eligible for the program but can afford the full registration fee, we ask that you leave space for others who may need more assistance ahead of this year’s race.
Grandma’s Marathon hopes our Running to Common Ground program allows us to open our arms to participants in need and to help them feel a sense of belonging within our race, our city, and our sport.
If you have questions, please call our office at (218) 727-0947 or email us at [email protected].
OTHER DEI PROGRAMS & INITIATIVES
Grandma’s Marathon is proud to welcome participants from all different nationalities, backgrounds, and cultures to our race weekend.
It’s important to us that runners feel welcomed and safe during their time in Duluth, and also that they can compete and participate while representing their true self and identity.
If you have questions, please call our office at (218) 727-0947 or email us at [email protected].
Grandma’s Marathon is committed to providing an inclusive and safe environment for all participants. With significant work yet to be done, our organization continues to have conversations with the LGBTQI+ community and create actionable items aimed at fostering space for all runners to register, compete, and be celebrated exactly as they are.
REGISTRATION
Participants will be able to identify and register as non-binary for any of the Grandma’s Marathon weekend races. NOTE: This registration will come only in the mass participation start and not in the elite fields. Any non-binary runner who wishes to apply for an elite field must contact our Elite Athlete Director Sarah Culver via email at [email protected] after January 1.
PRIZE MONEY
The top three (3) non-binary finishers in Grandma’s Marathon and the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon will receive prize money. NOTE: Other than what’s outlined below, non-binary participants will not be eligible for other prize money or time incentive bonuses.
Grandma’s Marathon Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon
1st — $500 1st — $150
2nd — $250 2nd — $100
3rd — $100 3rd — $75
Grandma’s Marathon supports and welcomes the participation of transgender athletes in a manner that is consistent with the policy of the sport’s national governing body, the U.S. Track and Field Association (USTAF), which has adopted the following guidelines put forth by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during the November 2015 Consensus Meeting:
- Those who transition from female to male are eligible to compete in the male category without restriction.
- Those who transition from male to female are eligible to compete in the female category under the following conditions:
- The athlete has declared that her gender identity is female. The declaration cannot be changed, for sporting purposes, for a minimum of four years.
- The athlete must demonstrate that her total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to her first competition (with the requirement for any longer period to be based on a confidential case-by-case evaluation, considering whether or not 12 months is a sufficient length of time to minimize any advantage in women’s competition).
- The athlete’s total testosterone level in serum must remain below 10nmol/L throughout the period of desired eligibility to compete in the female category.
- Compliance with these conditions may be monitored by testing. In the event of non-compliance, the athlete’s eligibility for female competition will be suspended for 12 months.
To be eligible for cash prizes and/or age-division awards, all athletes will be asked to comply with the current IOC transgender policies, as outlined above, at the time of the competition.