Marathon ‘sexism’ gets female runners shirty

Women lead the charge for change as race’s ‘unisex’ finishing tops are only designed for men

THE London Marathon is facing pressure to offer separate finisher T-shirts for male and female runners following complaints that their current unisex design is “sexist” against female participants.

Equality campaigners have said the fit of the T-shirts given to all runners when they cross the finish line are too big for women as they cater to the size of an average man.

Far from leaving female participants with a sense of pride after completing the 26.2-mile race, many discarded the garments or refused to pick them up at last year’s event because they assumed they wouldn’t be the correct shape.

There are now mounting calls for the London Marathon to provide a range of T-shirts for each gender so it falls in line with the polices adopted by other major marathons such as the TCS Amsterdam and Paris International races.

Maud Hodson, a representative from the Run Equal Campaign which champions gender equality in athletics, said the T-shirts could make many women feel unwelcome.

Ms Hodson, pictured right in a size XS shirt, who has been running for a decade, found the thin polyester T-shirt given to competitors at the end of the 2018 London Marathon far too large for her.

She told The Telegraph: “We all pay the same entrance fee but we are not getting the same deal as the men. I think it is sexist as being male is the default and women have to put up with it. It isn’t ever the other way around. T-shirts are trivial but it’s another side of the same issue of the world being designed around men. A record 40,273 people finished the London Marathon last year, with half of the runners being female.

Heather Castle, a 38-yearold from Lee, south London, has been running for seven years and has completed the London Marathon twice. She said: “Men aren’t made to wear women’s T-shirts so I don’t get how in 2019 that we are still being made to wear men’s.

“It makes you feel like you are not really supposed to be there and not a member of the community. It’s not like we are only 5 per cent of the runners.”

The London Marathon organisers were asked to provide details of the New Balance T-shirt designs for this year’s competition but said they wanted to leave it as a surprise.

A spokesman said: “We have sizes XXS to XXL. Runners select the size they want and if they want to exchange after they get home they can contact us and we will endeavour to help.”