.png)
Labour MP slams Parkrun for trans inclusion. It’s a non-competitive fun run
- Sophie Perry, PinkNews
- Jul 7
- 4 min read
A Labour MP has crticised Parkrun for being trans-inclusive following the Supreme Court’s controversial gender ruling and the prime minister’s comments that organisations should “get on” with barring trans women from female events.
Jonathan Hinder, who has been the MP for Pendle and Clitheroe in Lancashire since 2024, made the comments on Thursday (3 July) in the House of Commons.
He asked the secretary of state for culture, media and sport Lisa Nandy “what discussions she has had with sports governing bodies on ensuring that they are compliant with the Supreme Court judgment in the case of For Women Scotland v. The Scottish Ministers”.
The court ruling, handed down in April, deemed that the legal definition of the protected characteristic of “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act referred to “biological sex” only, thus excluding trans people.
Following the legal decision, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) – the UK’s equality watchdog – issued interim guidance which called for transgender men and women to be banned from single-sex facilities and services which matched their gender and, in some cases, from using those which matched their “biological sex”.
Several sporting bodies including the Football Association, Financial Conduct Authority and England and Wales Cricket Board have already moved to follow the EHRC guidance and bar trans women from female competition.
In response to Hinder’s question, Nandy said: “We have discussed the ruling with Sport England and UK Sport. It obviously has profound implications for sport as a whole, and those organisations are currently considering the implications for their own guidance.
“We are keen to support them in that, but my hon. Friend will know that national governing bodies set their own policies for who can participate in domestic competition.”
Hinder followed up, asking a second question: “More than two months after the Supreme Court clarified the law, there remains a very long list of sporting bodies which are denying fairness to women and girls.
“This includes Parkrun and, remarkably, sports like weightlifting and wrestling. The mind boggles.
“Does [Lisa Nandy] agree that there is no need to wait for further guidance and that these bodies should take the advice of the prime minister and get on with it?”
“As I said to my hon. Friend a moment ago, we have been working closely with sporting bodies to support them as they implement the recent judgment by the Supreme Court,” Nandy responded.
“As a Government, we have always been clear that, when it comes to women’s sport, biology matters and our sporting bodies need to come up with policies that protect fairness and safety, while rightly ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to participate in sport in some capacity.”
Parkrun is a series of free 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) events for runners all over the world which are “community-led, socially-focused physical activity events delivered with the aim of improving public health”. People take part in the runs and are later given a time and finishing position, which they can use to measure how well they did or how much they have improved.
Parkrun has previously been attacked by anti-trans groups because it allows people to self-identify their gender when signing up, with gender critical activists claiming doing so erases the achievements of cis women taking part in the runs.
Organisers, however, have in past insisted the events are non-competitive and are not the same as competitively held races.
In 2023, Greater Manchester’s Women’s Rights Network turned up at the Parkrun being held in Heaton Park to protest against trans women taking part.
As per the Parkrun Support webpage, organisers state the events are “not athletic or sporting competitions of the sort governed by national and international federations” which “has implications for the categorisation of participants”.
“Parkrun events are open to all and we want to encourage as many people as possible to participate, from all walks of life,” the section on gender categorisation reads.
“This means taking steps to understand and then minimise barriers to registration and to participation that are faced by different people or groups.”
“In light of our focus on inclusivity, in 2019 we reviewed the mandatory question and options on our registration form that related to gender, where up to that time people were asked their gender and given a binary choice of either male or female.
“In 2023, we conducted another thorough consultation process to ensure this policy remains fit for purpose.”
It goes on to state that the considerations made during the consultation process “were not simply philosophical and practical” but “also legal, cultural and technological in nature”.
“After careful consideration and extensive consultation–both in 2019 and in 2023, we decided to continue categorising people based on gender rather than sex.
“We feel this is aligned with us as a health and wellbeing charity that provides non-competitive socially-focussed physical activity, and allows people to identify in the way they feel most appropriate and comfortable.”
This position was backed by attendees, who spoke with the press about the backlash in February 2024.
“I think [trans inclusion] is more of a hot topic when it comes to Olympics,” one attendee told Sky News. “When it comes to Parkrun… people have got to remember that it is just a bit of a get-together, a bit of fun on a Saturday morning.”
Another told the outlet: “I think the debate about trans people in sports is being blown out of proportion… Make sports more inclusive, that’s the conversation that we should be having.”
One attendee stressed that “anyone and everyone” should have access to Parkrun.
(c) 2025, PinkNews
Comments