Nonbinary runner says 'it's important' to be represented at Boston Marathon
BOSTON - The moment Zackary Harris finished the New York City Marathon as its first ever winner in the race's new nonbinary category is a moment they wish their high school self could've known would come. "For me it was kind of astonishing that I was good at a sport because I never really been good at sports as a kid. Football evaded me, basketball, [I was] terrible," they explained.
Running became an outlet, until homophobia and bullying from teammates led Harris to quit the team.
After coming out as nonbinary their junior year of college and feeling welcomed and accepted some seven years ago, Harris got back out on the road, finding the joy in running again, moving to New York and finding people with similar experiences.
"I've also joined an amazing group of LGBTQ runners here in New York City who not only share my identity experiences but also are so supportive and all of my running endeavors and push me to be my best and take care of my body," they said.
Harris started running marathons. Every time they entered a race, they had no choice: they had to choose "male" in their entry form. "I definitely didn't really recognize the kind of like wall I had built around myself around having to constantly always check this box of 'male' for every single one of my races," they explained. "I think I built such a big wall around how kind of microaggressive and trauma-inducing it was to like always kind of have to put my identity as a nonbinary person to the side to be able to run a race."
That was - until 2021, when Harris entered the Philadelphia Distance Run, then the New York City Marathon, for the first time as a nonbinary participant. "To actually see myself as someone who could be competitive in this division" was a great feeling, they said.
Harris won the first ever nonbinary division of the New York City Marathon. Months later, they ran the Boston Marathon in 2022 - again, having to apply as a male.
To draw attention to gender identities outside male and female, Harris crossed the Boston Marathon finish line wearing a nonbinary pride flag.
Little did they know it would be foreshadowing for what was to come, when the Boston Athletic Association announced it would allow nonbinary entrants to join the race in 2023 for the first time. The BAA has already allowed nonbinary athletes to participate in some other events. In the 2021 virtual marathon, 56 entrants identified as nonbinary.
Harris has already submitted their NYC Marathon times to attempt to qualify for Boston 2023, this time as an openly nonbinary athlete. "I would love to have this opportunity again to run the Boston Marathon to get a redemption belt...and be under their inaugural nonbinary division. I think no matter if they are going to recognize any sort of awards or anything, I think it's important that you know, nonbinary people, we show up and we represent the fact that the sport is becoming more inclusive and here we are."
The BAA tells WBZ it will "continue to look at finish time data and results of other events offering nonbinary divisions, as well as next year's Boston Marathon, to establish what future qualifying times may be for nonbinary athletes."
Harris hopes their NYC time - 21 minutes below the Boston qualifying threshold set this year - is enough to qualify this year.
