Transgender Runner Says She Will Return Medal After Beating 14K Women In Marathon

On Sunday, a transgender runner beat thousands of women in the female division of the London Marathon. This came after competing as a man in the New York City race a few months before.

52-year-old Glenique Franks is a male athlete who now considers himself to be female. Frank came in 6160th place out of 20,123 athletes, outrunning 14,000 women.

“Males in the F category is UNFAIR  for females,” tweeted Mara Yamauchi, in response. She added that the fact that Frank was able to change categories led him to exceeding his prior average status. For instance, last November, he competed in the NYC Marathon in the men’s category. Back then, he came in 14,096th place out of 26,539.

Now, after much backlash, Frank has offered to return the London Marathon finisher’s medal.

“If they want me to give my medal back, I’ll say, ‘OK, fine. No problem,” Frank reported.

“If they really think I’ve stolen a place [of a female runner], I don’t mind giving the medal back, because I’ll run again next year for charity,” he added.

“…they’re angry because they’re saying that one of the 14,000 women behind me could have had my place. Really? I did that race in 4 hours 11 minutes. There’s lots of women that beat me,” Frank expressed.

Frank says the only goal is to spread joy and happiness with rainbow love. Additionally, she says that London was the first of her 17 scheduled marathons that allowed her to choose her own name and gender.

Frank vowed that she never tried to trick anybody and would follow the guidelines that are set forth in any race.