Race organiser explains reasoning for prize offer after allegations of sexism

A $10,000 prize offered for a record finish in an ultra marathon was not sexist, an organiser says, despite online criticism that led to the prize being altered.

Organisers of the South Island Ultra Marathon offered the cash to the first person to break eight hours in the 100-kilometre race along a West Coast wilderness track that starts in Greymouth and ends in Hokitika.

But the offer sparked a backlash and international debate about sexism, with critics claiming men had been shown to have a physiological performance advantage, and so would be more likely to make the eight-hour mark.

Organisers CJM’s Events, run by John and Carol Moore then decided to offer $10,000 each to the first male and the first female to break the eight-hour mark.

But John Moore told Checkpoint that despite changing the prize offer he did not believe the initial offer had been sexist.

“Either party can do it, it’s clearly not sexist. We put up the prize to see who could be the first person.”

Moore said a performance advantage for men had only be shown on flat athletics tracks, and different trails and events offered different conditions, with the athletes and the genders performing differently on each.

Times set by women and men on this particular track were not wildly different, Moore said, with 8 hours 21 minutes and 45 seconds the men’s fastest time so far, and 8 hours 24 minutes and 03 seconds the women’s fastest time.

And last year women claimed 1st, 3rd and 6th place in the event.

“So the poor guys they got beaten, and … when you look at the history of the event over the years, females have performed outstandingly on that trail.

“The difference in those [previous record] times, was 1 percent. We went through a full analysis with a lot of people and everyone believed it was achievable by both.

“We have not seen a man and we have not seen a female achieve running any faster than 8 hours 21, we believe it’s the fastest trail in New Zealand, and we wanted to see eight hours beaten, so we put [the prize] up.

Moore said the outrage over the prize had included personal attacks on him by people he did not even know.

“We didn’t think there was anything wrong with it, we thought we’d appease it, and say here’s ($10,000) for each.

“Instead of knocking people for putting something up, it is better … we put something up, I don’t see any other event organisers in New Zealand putting that up for anything.”