Boston Marathon is notorious as being ‘no deferrals under any circumstances’. Now, following mounting pressure from athletes, the Boston Athletic Association has announced accommodation enhancements for runners who are expecting or have recently welcomed a child into their family. The move comes after pressure from both individual runners and advocate groups, as well as a now-viral social media post.
An open letter to the Boston Marathon
The original post, by runner Fiona English, was an ‘open letter to the Boston Marathon’. Fiona detailed how, after 17 marathons and a lot of hard work and determination, she managed to run a BQ (Boston Qualifying) time at the Paris Marathon in 2022. Boston Marathon is known for being one of the most exclusive marathons in the world, with a fast qualifying time required just to enter. Not only this, the qualifying times change slightly each year, dependent upon the number of runners who achieve a BQ time. A woman aged between 18-34 would have to run a sub 3:30 marathon in order to qualify for the 2023 edition of the race. And that’s exactly what Fiona English managed to do.
What happened next? Fiona found out she was pregnant with her first child. She continued to run throughout the first trimester of her pregnancy – even…
