London marathon will offer wheelchair races the same prize money as able-bodied racers

Give it a shot. Can’t wait to laugh.

You don't think that people that are wheelchair bound are just as healthy as a normal person? What the hell is wrong with you?

There is NO WAY someone that is wheelchair bound does not have more health conditions than an able bodied person. The able bodied person has full use of their entire body from which to draw strength!

There maybe 10,000+ participants, but let's be honest, the winner of a race like London is racing against a much smaller pro/elite field. If you look at the size of the pro field versus the size of the wheelchair field, the wheelchair field is still smaller, but not as dramatic as you are saying.

In 2023 50,000 runners did the London Marathon. The wheelchair race? Maybe 100? Do you really think the prize money should be the same?

It's a time-honored tradition for Letsrun geniuses to propose "solutions" to "problems" that don't really exist. This week's example: wheelchair marathoners at London getting a pay raise.

The pros are not racing against those 50,000 participants. They are racing against the other pros.

I don't understand the issue if the race wants to offer equal prize money for the wheelchair division. It isn't hurting the pro men's and women's prize money.

So prize money should be awarded by percentage of entries with at most road races these days women getting about 55% and men getting 45% of the pot?

It’s indirectly reducing the pro running prize pool. Even though it’s not Wimbledon, I guarantee you 100 times more people care about the result of the pro running race over the wheelchair race. And that should be enough reason to have a disparate prize pool

It's 2024 and London still doesn't have a non-binary wheelchair category.

This has way too many down votes. Who really cares. T&F has been underpaying athletes for decades -- it isn't because of stuff like this.

you m a g a m o r o n s are amazing. Only a loser like you could be upset by this. BTW the winners don't beat 10000+ people. They are only actually racing a few dozen people at MOST. The rest of the field (including you) are not in the same race as the elite

It bothers me because percentage wise how many other gammy little plebs do Mr and Mrs Ironside have to beat as opposed to a man or woman in the “Able bodied “ category? Same as the special Olympics how many categories do they want? No way is a Para Gold equivalent to an actual gold. People think it but can’t say it because it hurts others feelings. Everyone just go and watch The Ringer and see special needs athletics for what it really is. Disclaimer Para athletes are still higher up the food chain than race walkers.

So if 'able bodied' is consistently used by disabled participants who is it offending? is it like who can and can't use the [insert the obvs word that I can't use]? Whose record are you straightening?

Not necessarily true; we don’t know where the additional money is coming from. If it is from a sponsor that has specifically allocated funds for the wheelchair division, then that money would have never gone to the pro runners.

The London Marathon is technically both a running/walking competition and a wheelchair competition. Additional prize money for the event is not automatically entitled to the running division, regardless of viewership and competition level. It comes down to the source of the funds.

In other words: this additional money is probably coming from a sponsor who is directing where their money goes.

Hilarious. As though even a moderately athletic able-bodied person would be able to handle a competitive wheelchair through 26+ miles, much less be in the running for prize money.

One of the founding aims of the event was to improve standards in UK marathon running. Hypothetically if a rich benefactor gave, or left via will, say £1m to the race to fund elite athletes, with this founding objective in mind, and specified it was to go to athletes in the main race- either entirely or, more 'equally' in proportion to the number of able bodied in the total entries vs the number of wheelchair entrants in the total entries, I wonder what the Race Org would do.

Do the wheelchair racers get appearance fees?

Is there a binary category in the wheel chair race? I'm gonna guess a decent crossfit guy can easily take it. He will just have identify with being disabled and being they.

Wheelchair racing is like electric bikes - lazy.