Transgender woman Glenique Frank has admitted she’s ‘scared’ to race in this Sunday’s London Marathon following controversy over her competing in the female category in 2023. Having previously entered marathon events in New York and Tokyo as a man, the 55-year-old was entitled to switch categories for the event in England despite having not undergone gender transition treatment.
She duly clocked a time of four hours, 11 minutes, and 28 seconds to finish 6,160th out of 20,123 female entrants. But her participation proved divisive, with Olympian Mara Yamauchi publicly labelling her inclusion ‘wrong’ and criticising authorities for permitting it. “World Athletics and UK Athletics have rules that post-puberty males competing in the female category is unfair,” she said. “This male competed under UK Athletics’ transitional arrangements, but it is still wrong and unfair.”
Frank, a personal trainer, did apologise for any upset caused, and emphasised that she ran for charity and had not ‘cheated’ any athletes out of a prize. But she also vowed not to compete again in the female category after receiving personal abuse following the 2023 event.
“What happened to me last year, I got some quite brutal threats for entering under a simple category,” she told GB News this week. “When I enter any race, or even a job application, under gender there are only limited categories male, female, non-binary or other.
“No offence to non-binary and other but I don’t want to be called that. I know who I am. I am a transgender woman. This is the whole thing with any sport now. On any applications, there is no tick box.”
Frank also said she would have welcomed Yamauchi, who competed for Team GB in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, contacting her directly to discuss the issue rather than make inflammatory remarks . And she also implied the experience has left her too afraid to take to the start line again this Sunday.
“The athlete that called me out when she saw my interview could have just phoned me personally,” she continued. “Because now it is all about how I cheated 14 thousand other women out of a better position. I am a charity runner and I came around six thousandth.
“I felt quite bad and it affected my mental health but luckily I am a strong person. I’m scared to run on Sunday. Unfortunately, I have kept the peace, which is another issue.”
In March 2023, World Athletics announced that it would prohibit athletes who have gone through what it called ‘male puberty’ from competing in women’s world rankings competitions. President Seb Coe has since doubled down on the regulations, insisting the policy was “here to stay”.
