The Dark Peak Fell Runners take inclusivity seriously and don’t want anyone to feel unwelcome or that they are being forced to race in a category in which they feel uncomfortable.
Club Races
We have agreed to follow the FRA approach which involves having 2 race categories, ‘Female’ for cisgender females and ‘Open’ for anyone else. Which category you enter is entirely up to you. No gender checks will be carried out at DPFR club races and no one will question you on the gender you were assigned at birth or with which you now identify. Our first aim for club races it for them to be welcoming to all runners.
We understand that this new ‘Open’ category could just be seen as a rebranding of the ‘Male’ category with little real change for those seeking a more inclusive structure. As a club we will try to ensure that this new category is understood to be an important change needed to allow all members to race without discrimination; ensuring, for example, that race organisers refer to the new category as ‘Open’ when referring to results. Additionally, to further help distinguish gender identities in the results we have decided to display people’s preferred genders as a separate column in race results.
We are still debating a more inclusive system which would work for everyone and any feedback and suggestions would be welcomed.
Please contact the club welfare or DEI officers with any further questions or suggestions.
NB the gender that will be shown in the results is the one that is set in your SI Entries Dark Peak membership account. Please update it there if it is incorrect. You can also opt to not be shown in results at all if that is your preference, which again can be set in your SI Entries account. However, please contact the webmaster if you do this as it is a manual process to sync the changes across.
Open Races
…and particularly championship races. As an affiliated club of the Fell Runners Association and from 1st January 2026, Dark Peak Fell Runners will follow the FRA guidelines on transgender eligibity (summarised below) which come from UK Athletics and ultimately World Athletics.
*Since 1st January 2024 the following policy has been adopted by the FRA for all races, championships, and other competitions which they license and/or register:
Female Category eligibility
1. Female athletes who are recorded as female from birth.
2.Transgender female athletes who can prove to the race organisers that
they meet the criteria set out in Regulation 3.2 of the ‘World Athletics
Eligibility Regulations for Transgender Athletes’.
Male/Open Category eligibility
3.Male athletes who are recorded as male from birth.
4.Transgender male athletes and athletes who cannot satisfy the terms of
bullet point 2.
Last updated: 10th March 2026