Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
Running to Common Ground
Grandma’s Marathon is committed to ensuring our event be accessible, safe, and welcoming to all people, especially runners from underrepresented communities or cultures. This includes, but is not limited to, communities of color, athletes with disabilities, non-binary athletes, and LGBTQI+ athletes.
Grandma’s Marathon is committed to ensuring our event be accessible, safe, and welcoming to all people, especially runners from underrepresented communities or cultures. This includes, but is not limited to, communities of color, athletes with disabilities, non-binary athletes, and LGBTQI+ athletes.
To aid in this effort, Grandma’s Marathon’s Running to Common Ground program will offer 500 discounted entries into one of our race weekend events to groups and individuals who are part of an underrepresented community or culture. In helping with the cost of registration, our organization hopes to open our arms to runners in those communities and to help them feel a sense of belonging within our race, our city, and our sport.
While financial support is not the only barrier to a race of our size, we are hopeful it can help lead to a more inclusive and positive experience for runners from these underrepresented communities.
To apply for the 2023 Running to Common Ground intiative, please click the button below. If you have questions, please call our office at (218) 727-0947 or email us at [email protected].
Applications for the 2023 Running to Common Ground program are no longer being accepted, but please consider applying for and attending the 2024 Grandma’s Marathon weekend. If you have questions, please call our office at (218) 727-0947 or email us at [email protected].
Run Minnesota is excited to provide support to Grandma’s Running to Common Ground initiative. Full and sliding scale scholarships are available to our training programs for Garry Bjorklund and Grandma’s Marathon to all those accepted into the program. Learn more about our training programs and apply for a training scholarship here.
Non-Binary Participation
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, gender fluid, gender non-conforming, or gender queer for any of the 2023 Grandma’s Marathon weekend races. NOTE: This registration will come only in the mass participation start and not in the elite fields.
Grandma’s Marathon will contact each individual registered in this category prior to race weekend, offering options on how that participant’s information is presented in public results. Each person may choose to have their gender listed in the results as non-binary (NB) or unidentified (U), or they may choose to have their name, result, and other information hidden entirely. NOTE: Any participant choosing to be unidentified or hidden will not be eligible to receive any prize money or be listed for any overall or age division awards.
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 in 2023.
- Grandma’s Marathon
- 1st – $500
- 2nd – $250
- 3rd – $100
- Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon
- 1st – $150
- 2nd – $100
- 3rd – $75
Transgender Participation
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.
Keynote Speakers & Panel
As part of our continued commitment to provide a platform for our underrepresented runners throughout our race weekend, we will be again be hosting guest speakers on the topic of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in distance running and sport, in general.
Alison Desir, author of Running While Black, will be a featured guest at the 2023 Grandma’s Marathon weekend and is expected to be selling and signing copies of her book during the Essentia Health Fitness Expo.
Desir will also be featured in two events on our live stage, which is located in the expo building (Paulucci Hall), on Friday, June 16 at the following times:
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Alison Mariella Désir (Founder, Harlem Run & Author, Running While Black)
12:00pm — Paulucci Hall, DECC
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION ROUNDTABLE
1:00pm — Paulucci Hall, DECC
- Alison Mariella Désir (Founder, Harlem Run & Author, Running While Black)
- Angie DeLille (Renew Earth Running)
- Ben Delokoski (My Team Triumph)
During our DEI roundtable discussion, some of our most trusted and experienced partners in this space can speak directly to our participants and give life to the personal experiences, successes, and challenges they’ve had in the sport of road racing.
If you or your organization would like to be part of our live content schedule for the 2023 race weekend, please contact our Marketing & Public Relations Director Zach Schneider via phone at (218) 727-0947 or via email at [email protected].
