Trans athlete who 'smashed' women's Parkrun record revealed
EXCLUSIVE Revealed: Transgender athlete who ‘smashed to smithereens’ women’s Parkrun record by a minute and 13 seconds was married man until four years ago – as row rages over national event’s self-ID gender rules
- Siân Longthorpe, 43, completed the Porthcawl Parkrun in record a 18m 53s
A trans athlete who ‘smashed to smithereens’ a women’s Parkrun record is today revealed as Siân Longthorpe – who was living as a married man until just over four years ago.
Ms Longthorpe, 43, completed last weekend’s Porthcawl Parkrun in a record 18 minutes and 53 seconds on Saturday – a full one minute and 13 seconds ahead of her closest rival Deb Roberts.
The outcome of that race in West Wales on Saturday came to national attention today when the result was cited by Mara Yamauchi, a former British Olympian, as an example of what she believes is the exclusion of women athletes and their achievements in the name of being ‘inclusive’.
Ms Yamauchi, herself an elite marathon runner, used the Welsh race and the trans competitor’s clearcut victory in it as an example of her point that birth female athletes are not being treated fairly – saying she believes the record may now be ‘out of female hands forever’.
She stopped short of naming the race or its winner, but MailOnline has learned that she was Ms Longthorpe, a keen amateur runner from Devon.
Siân Longthorpe, 43, completed last weekend’s Porthcawl Parkrun in a record 18 minutes and 53 seconds on Saturday
MailOnline has learned that she was Ms Longthorpe, was the keen amateur runner from Devon, who ‘smashed to smithereens’ a women’s Parkrun record last Saturday
Trans runner Siân Longthorpe was living as a married man until just over four years ago
Ms Longthorpe came out publicly as transgender in 2019 and is now one of the UK most high-profile trans runners – having been made a ‘frontrunner’ or brand ambassador by Asics, the running shoe label.
It was in that context that she gave an interview to the magazine Women’s Running in March 2021, in which she told of her journey to changing gender.
Ms Longthorpe described how she had always had feelings about her identity but had tried to bury them by getting married and having children – before the marriage broke up and she was forced to confront her ‘true feelings’.
She said: ‘I’ve now been Siân for about 18 months and it’s been amazing. It’s not without its difficulties, but generally it’s been just so much better than I feared, and for that I’m just so grateful.’
Fiona McAnena, of pressure group Fair Play for Women said: ‘Parkrun is fully inclusive. Everyone runs or walks together fast or slow, you’re still welcome. But someone with a male body shouldn’t be claiming a female course record.
‘That belongs to a female runner.’
Siân Longthorpe, 43, completed last weekend’s Porthcawl Parkrun in a record 18 minutes and 53 seconds on Saturday
Ms Longthorpe, 43, completed last weekend’s Porthcawl Parkrun a full one minute and 13 seconds ahead of her closest rival Deb Roberts.
Ms Yamauchi had taken to social media to slam Parkrun’s self-ID gender rules when it was revealed that two trans runners hold women’s records for the fun run, including a former champion fell-runner who was jailed for attempted murder.
She revealed on Twitter that a Parkrun female record was ‘smashed to smithereens by a trans-identifying male’ – now know to be Ms Longthrope – last Saturday.
Later it emerged that another local Parkrun women’s record is still held by transgender champion fell runner Lauren Jeska, who was jailed for attempting to murder a UK Athletics official in 2016.
This prompted an outcry from activists, including the two-time Olympian who said it signified the ‘erasure of female achievements in Parkrun’.
Speaking of Jeska, 41, who holds the women’s record for the Aberystwyth Parkrun with 17 minutes 38 seconds, Ms Yamauchi said: ‘This outright Parkrun female course record is the second one held by a person born male that I am aware of.
‘There could be many more that we don’t know about.’
Jeska was jailed for 18 years in 2017 for the attempted murder of Ralph Knibbs
Mara Yamauchi criticised Parkrun’s self-ID gender rules, saying males in the female category ‘means the erasure of female achievements’
Jeska – who was jailed in 2017 for attempted murder of a UK Athletics official – pictured at a running event. It emerged she still holds the Parkrun women’s record title
Former British fell-running champion Jeska was jailed in 2017 when a dispute over her eligibility to compete as a female athlete despite being born male turned violent
Oxford-educated Jeska, then 42, was handed an 18-year prison sentence for repeatedly stabbing UK Athletics’ head of human resources Ralph Knibbs, then 52.
Mr Knibbs suffered life-threatening injuries when Jeska took two knives to his office at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium and attacked him after being told her titles would be null and void in row over testosterone levels.
Two of his colleagues were also hurt as they tried to stop the ‘frenzied’ attack.
Since it emerged Jeska still holds the title, feminist activists have reacted with fury and say they are ‘lost for words’ amid claims it could exclude women from sport.
Former British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies also slammed the ‘ridiculous’ and ‘insulting’ rules that allowed Jeska to retain the title.
She said: ‘It’s safe to say it is ridiculous any course records for women are held by someone who is a biological male and even more insulting when that person committed a crime when they got furious when asked to provide result for a testosterone test to be eligible to run at all.’
Parkrun’s current records in both male and female categories
Melissa Courtney holds the UK Parkrun record for the fastest female runner with a time of 15 minutes and 31 seconds, set in Poole, Dorset, on Christmas Eve last year.
Meanwhile, Andrew Baddeley is the fastest male runner at a UK Parkrun, after running the 5km course in 13 minutes and 48 seconds in Bushy Park on August 11, 2012.
Adding that she would like to see Parkrun course records based on sex and age, she continued: ‘We need to be dealing in reality for a physical activity like sport which is utterly reliant on our biology.
‘If we don’t do this no females will eventually hold any records.’
Heather Binning, founder of the Women’s Rights Network, told The Telegraph: ‘I am lost for words that a male is stealing what should be women’s records first of all, and setting these records that will not be broken – these records are frozen, women won’t beat them.’
Ms Binning added it was ‘gobsmacking’ that Jeska was in prison for attempted murder of a UK Athletics official who questioned her eligibility as a female runner.
Parkrun is a global running community which organises 5km races every Saturday for all abilities, encouraging people to run, walk or spectate.
Parkrun was started in Teddington in 2004 and has gained fans around the world. It allows runners to self-identify their gender as ‘male’, ‘female’, ‘non-binary’ or ‘prefer not to say’.
On the subject of self-ID, a Parkrun spokesman said the fun run was not a race or athletic competition overseen by national or international federations and believed that it would not be ‘appropriate or practical’ to request proof of gender or ‘adjudicate the validity of a person’s gender identity’.
Former rugby player and UK Athletics official Ralph Knibbs (pictured left) said the attack was a ‘traumatic, life-changing experience’ which had robbed him of his independence
Lauren Jeska, a transgender former champion fell-runner, was jailed for 18 years for the attempted murder of an athletics official
Jeska (pictured) was jailed in 2017 for attempting to stab a UK Athletics official to death
Jeska, who transitioned in 2000, studied mathematics at Oxford University before completing a master’s in Gender, Sexuality and Queer Theory at the University of Leeds.
She won a series of titles for her performance in the sport, including the women’s 2010, 2011 and 2012 English fell running champion, and 2012 British champion.
It is believed she had told a handful of people of her sex change, including those at the UK Athletics board.
READ MORE: Champion fell-runner is jailed for 18 years for trying to stab a UK Athletics official to death after it was revealed she was born a man and could lose her titles
The dispute arose in 2015 after she failed to provide blood samples to prove her testosterone levels had lowered significantly enough to continue running as a woman.
As a result, her racing results were to be declared null and void.
A week before the attack on Mr Knibbs, he had gone to meet Jeska at her home to discuss the ‘long-term’ issue with the sporting governing body.
On March 22, 2016, Jeska drove from her home in Wales to Brimingham with two large kitchen knives hidden in a rucksack into the UK Athletics office before launching her attack on Mr Knibbs.
Despite being stabbed in the throat, in a blow which nicked both his carotid artery and jugular vein, the victim managed to grab both Jeska’s wrists while shocked colleagues rushed to his aid.
Two colleagues of Mr Knibbs – Tim Begley and Kevan Taylor – were also injured as Jeska resisted, before half a dozen workers managed to pin her to the ground until police arrived.
One witness said Jeska looked ‘as though she were trying to skewer meat’.
Mr Knibbs told the court the ‘traumatic, life-changing experience’ had robbed him of his independence, with long-term nerve damage suffered both in the attack and by necessary life-saving surgery afterwards.
He also suffered a stroke during the assault, resulting in partial permanent sight-loss.
Mr Knibbs (pictured left) is a former rugby union player who played for Bristol
Jeska was born Michael and transitioned in 2000
Jeska is a former champion fell-runner who won a series of titles for her performance in the sport
Jeska (pictured competing as Michael in 1992), of Machynlleth, Powys, was jailed in 2017 for the attempted murder former Bristol RFC centre Mr Knibbs over a dispute of whether she would be able to compete as a woman
Jeska pictured at a running event
The judge told Jeska her attack had been ‘planned and executed with chilling precision’, calling the case a ‘deeply disturbing and complex one’.
Her lawyer Julia Warburton at the time described Jeska as a ‘woman in crisis’.
She said: ‘She had to have blood tests or she would be removed from the results of her races. Because of these tests, her transgender status would be outed and she had not spoken of it with some people before.
‘She was a woman in crisis who needed assistance. She felt like she was being killed.’
READ MORE: Parkrun’s gender self-ID lets men ‘smash women’s records to smithereens’, former Olympic marathon runner claims
Jeska, of Machynlleth, Powys, admitted the attempted murder of former Bristol RFC centre Mr Knibbs, and was jailed for 18 years, in what the judge described as a ‘cool, calculated attack’ which had been ‘wholly unprovoked’.
She was also convicted on two counts of assaulting his colleagues, Mr Begley and Mr Taylor, and carrying knives in public.
A spokesperson for Parkrun said the fun run was not a race or athletic competition overseen by national or international federations – such as World Athletics or UK Athletics – as they are community-led, focusing on inclusion and the improvement of public health.
They added Parkrun believed it would not be ‘appropriate or practical’ to request proof of gender or ‘adjudicate the validity of a person’s gender identity’.
They continued: ‘At Parkrun we aim to be as inclusive and welcoming as possible, and whilst there is and possibly always will be discussion around how we record and present people’s identities, we believe that our current solution is the most appropriate available at this time.’
Parkrun was contacted for further comment.
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