London marathon will offer wheelchair races the same prize money as able-bodied racers

This is woke that is woke anything I don’t like is woke.

as a general point, I used to see a lot of paralympic athletes through a job I had and close to 100% of them described people who weren't eligible for the paralympics as 'able bodied' Double negatives are silly when there's a clearer alternative.

Just to set the record straight the correct term is not able-bodied it is non-disabled or in this case non wheelchair user. The term able-bodied is now considered a bit offensive and ableist.

So then we agree?

Of course not. It’s for disabled people.

Why do you choose your sign-in name to match your thread title.

It bothers Republicans because it’s “woke” or something. They don’t like it when someone gets paid more money for winning a race. They grumble and they grimace and complain that the world might treat wheelchair athletes with the same respect.

Wokeness gone crazy. When they can and or could do a couple of “marathons” per week this is ridiculous. Not even on the same planet - demeaning to real marathoners

So what? That’s their prerogative

Maybe?

Have fun training for that though

@roller answers troller - No, I won't be at Mt Sac. I'm in my 50s and only an amputee for 2 years, but a lifelong runner and ran D1 track and cross country way back in the day. I'm toying with trying to qualify for Boston. Ironically, I interned with the 96 Paralympic Organizing Committee and I've had an interested in para athletics since then.

I would never think that any able bodied person would want to do that, but then we never thought grown men would compete vs girls either.

The advantage would be huge. It's just a matter of training. If the money is there, some douche will figure out a way to squirm their way in.

Women's sports if for women but they allow men to compete. Women's/Little girls bathrooms and locker rooms are for women and little girls but they allow men to use.

You may not like it, but transgender participation is legal so long as certain rules are followed. An able-bodied(?) body person cannot compete in the wheelchair division.

It would take just one person that knows your cheater watching on TV, to out them and not having atrophied legs will be a big give away.

I believe wheelchair racing is all upper body so there would be no advantage.

the problem is it's woke. the wheelchair races are not as competitive, they shouldn't have the same prize money to beat 100 other people as the marathoners have to beat 10000+.

more wokeness. i hope this is satire

Can I just flip the script here for a second? Wheelchair racing is nothing like running. They are using their arms and it is extremely anaerobic for good portions of the longer races. Again, I think this sport should be viewed as its own sport, not an alternative for running. It is more similar to cycling.

Why don't we take the woke/political tone out of this discussion and ask why they keep trying to align it with large running races. They don't do that with cycling races, so why marathons? Again, stop treating these athletes like broken runners. They may have a disability, but they aren't broken runners. Plus, this is a very tough athletic endeavor regardless of whether you are disabled or not. I think they SHOULD let able bodied people in the races. These athletes aren't scared of you. Losing a limb or being born without the use of your legs doesn't make you a nancy. It makes you tougher. Give them more money and give them more respect by giving them their own competitions that aren't sidecar events and open up the competition.

I also think it is weird that some of you are saying that able bodied people can't do this because it is hard. Of course it is hard. You need to train for it. These guys train daily. Why would you think that you could just jump in a chair and be as good? Do you think you can just jump in a squat cage and lift as much as Olympic lifters? Odd thinking IMHO...