At the very least it muddys the waters. The very fact that the race introduced a non-binary category is what lead to all of this in the first place.
They obviously realize their mistake and will likely correct it in the future. I know the WSER folks will want to make sure there isn't confusion in the future.
I'm not a fan of the whole non-binary thing. I actually don't believe in it. But a lot of people who could have easily figured out that Riley qualified as a female are now hiding behind "confusion" and "just asking questions" instead of using an ounce of common sense.
So what is it that you have at stake here that you seem so upset over this? Why is it so hard to admit that the race did a poor job of communicating who was in contention for the top spots? Are you a volunteer from the race or have some other personal stake in this?
I'm not upset. The race handled this perfectly: they made her enter as a female, they got it on paper beforehand, and they made sure she was eligible for the spot as a female, before the race. I've run half-marathons as a 74 year-old woman before, because we didn't get the bib transfer done in time. Never trust the trackers.
i just can't stand fakers like Zach, who's pretending his wife has been wronged, or people actng like they couldn't figure out what was happening here because they can't handle technology properly.
She knew most .. only not Riley... Almost nobody.. what if 3 girls going together into the last loop.. Nicole, Brittany and Riley.. Riley attacked and the other 2 fight eachother because that didn't knew that Riley was competing for a ticket....?
She knew most .. only not Riley... Almost nobody.. what if 3 girls going together into the last loop.. Nicole, Brittany and Riley.. Riley attacked and the other 2 fight eachother because that didn't knew that Riley was competing for a ticket....?
Literally nobody else was confused here, and nothing needs to be fixed.
That's false. I was following the race from afar, and I was totally confused, and was until I read this thread. Granted, it may not matter in the grand scheme, because I was neither running for a Golden Ticket (sitting on my couch at home) nor do I have a dog in the fight. But I *was* curious how the race was shaking out, and assumed Nicole got the ticket based on the female race results posted online, with Riley in the non-binary division. That is, until the "official" results showed Riley in second and Nicole in third.
I don't blame Riley for any of this, and think Aravaipa totally screwed it up. If they want to grant people the ability to honor their gender and enter the non-binary division, great. But when the Golden Tickets go to "male" and "female," then the non-binary racers need to appear in the relevant category in real time. I'm not going to second guess (as you did) whether Zach B was actually confused; he may or may not have been. But the reality is, sooner or later someone will be, so this flaw in the system needs to be fixed before that happens (again), with real consequences (I'll give you credit for the supposition that Nicole B couldn't have run fast enough to make the difference here).
You were confused? Impossible. "Not complcated" told me that no one was confused and everyone who is confused is "an idiot." You must be an idiot.
I was following the competitive Javelina Jundred 100-mile ultramarathon race yesterday, which is a Golden Ticket race (the Top Two Men and Top Two Women earn automatic entry into the Western States 100).
During the race coverage online, it was reported that females Heather Jackson, Devon Yanko, Nicole Bitter, Kaci Lickteig, and Kathryn Drew were racing fairly close together around miles 40-60. However, there was a non-binary category runner by the name of Riley Brady that was also very close to them. Leaderboard graphics for the top-10 women did not include Riley Brady during that time in the race.
At the finish line, Devon Yanko won as first female. However, Riley Brady finished 9 minutes later and was announced as the "first non-binary runner" on the race's Instagram story. However, a bit later in the official race results it now has Brady listed as the "second Female."
If it wasn't clear that Brady was competing in the women's race, that likely would have impacted how Nicole Bitter ran -- was she even aware that she was racing Brady?
Can gender change mid race? The race also had a non-binary division that one could sign up to compete in at registration; which category was Brady registered to compete in? Will Brady get the auto entry and golden ticket into Western States 100 now instead of Nicole Bitter?
I watched the youtube of the race and IIRC he/she entered as a female if I'm not mistaken. I think the commenters mentioned it
The elephant in the room is that a biological male (irrgardless of what sex they identify as) should not compete for the win against bilogical females. that's what the non-binary division is for or should be.
Aravaipa totally screwed it up. If they want to grant people the ability to honor their gender and enter the non-binary division, great. But when the Golden Tickets go to "male" and "female," then the non-binary racers need to appear in the relevant category in real time. I'm not going to second guess (as you did) whether Zach B was actually confused; he may or may not have been. But the reality is, sooner or later someone will be, so this flaw in the system needs to be fixed before that happens (again), with real consequences
This should be the take home message. If a race is going to be a direct qualifier for another race, the divisions need to mirror each other. If the qualifying race wants to have a non-binary division, great. But entrants in that division cannot be allowed to qualify for a race that does not have a non-binary division.
If you're OK with being in a certain division at one race, you should be OK with being in that same division at the qualifying race.
Whether or not Nicole B could or could not have beaten Riley is water under the bridge, but moving forward, race organizers need to be crystal clear about who is competing for what -- in the race registration lists, on the bibs, and in the live results. Because this will come up again.
For starters it definitely sounds like whoever runs their social accounts was confused. Which likely lead to the confusion others who were not at the race but were paying attention to the tracking but maybe not watching the live streams. Thats great that people at the race werent confused. Sounds like a learning opportunity for the RD. Not sure why so much hyperbole and aggression.
The root of the issue is someone who was at the race is claiming that because Riley wasn't on the leaderbord, it unfiarly cost his wife a chance at a Golden Ticket.
Riley did the right thing here: despite being non-binary, Riley eclared as a female to be eligible for the Golden Ticket.
The race did the right thing: it demanded that runners who wanted the goldten ticket declare as male or female.
Western States did the right thing: the offered Golden Tickets by sex, not gender.
The only thing that went "wrong" here, apparently, is the timing company, which sorted runners by gender and not sex; and Zach Bitter, who said the leaderboard influenced his wife's race stratey, which is ridiculous. And now a bunch of people are saying it's not enough that JJ made a non-binary runner register as a female, or that WSER will only reward runners based on sex; Nicole Bitter should get rewarded for finishing 3rd because she lost to someone who didn't appear in the tracking early in the race, even though the reason why thhat happened is very easy to understand.
Zach Bitter says he based his wife's race plan on the live tracking, and not on his own eyes seeing the girl who was beating his wife run past over and over. That's where the learning oppotunity here is. Not on the RD. The race did just fine.
Many of us watching the live stream were in fact confused. The chat room on the live stream consistently had references to Nicole Bitter as 2nd female until quite late in the broadcast. It is reasonable that Zach was confused. I also agree it is unlikely to have mattered at JJ (Riley seemed too strong for Nicole to catch her) but it could matter in future events. As such, it is worth Aravaipa and other organizers of GT races learning from the mistakes made at JJ.
You are wrong about that part. It's not this race's tickets to give away.
The race did inadvertently screw up. I'm sure they understand the confusion it caused now and will do better next time. It wasn't intentional, and therefore a forgivable mistake. Though in theory it could have affected the race, I don't think it actually did.
Though I totally understand the confusion, logically it could have been deduced that a fast non-binary person would also be in the male or female category because there is no such thing as a non-binary Golden Ticket. Looking at the Instagram of the runner in question, the runner looks like a (tomboyish) female, so at least on the ground/in person, I would have 100% assumed the runner was a woman. I can see how live results or commentary can confuse things though.
This thread is really about something else, and people are tiptoeing around it….
The “non binary” category in sporting events. It just doesn’t make sense. The fact that a runner chose the non binary category for the race, but then ultimately was ok with “female” for golden ticket purposes, kind of proves this point.
BTW, It’s also true that:
1. We should be kind to people regardless of sex, gender, race, etc.. AND
2. The non-binary category in sporting events is silly.
(and these two things can co-exist)
I 100% agree.
Why are they asking for your gender to begin with when you sign up? It's irrelevant for sporting classifications. I mean if a race wants to give our prize according to gender I guess they can but it would be little different than asking for your religion and sign up and giving out awards on that. Religion like gender can change and has no impact of how good an athlete you are.
I think race should just ask for you name when you sign up. Then have a box saying, "Do you want to compete in the protected xx category?" So we have two categories. Open and xx. No one can be offended as we aren't talking about man, woman, male, female, female bodied, etc.
Why is no one asking how Riley improved so much compared to past performances? Without drug testing or a transgender policy, how do we know they aren’t taking testosterone?
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