Non-Binary Runner Upset with Cashless LA Marathon Prize

In the latest installment of woke entitlement clashing with basic biology, the self-proclaimed winner of the non-binary division at the Los Angeles Marathon is miffed that no fat cash prize came with the medal. Cal Calamia, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/he pronouns, crossed the finish line first in that niche category on March 8, 2026, with a time of 2:49:17. But unlike the elite male and female winners who split a $25,000 pot—the largest the LA Marathon has doled out in recent years—Calamia walked away with nothing but a trophy, some publicity, and apparently a hefty dose of disappointment.

The non-binary runner has been vocal about the snub, with Calamia previously lamenting in activist circles that “some cash would be nice” and framing the lack of payout as part of a larger “chicken and egg” problem of insufficient recognition. After all, this is the same activist who pressured races like San Francisco’s Bay to Breakers into adding non-binary categories and has now won six of the seven World Marathon Majors in the division. But here’s the rub: demanding equal cash for a category representing a microscopic slice of the field isn’t activism—it’s absurdity.

LA Marathon officials were refreshingly straightforward about why non-binary runners get zero prize money. Spokesperson Meg Treat put it plainly: “World Athletics and USA Track & Field set our industry standards and we look to their regulations. But at the end of the day, the category is small. And while some of the runners will clock fast times, many of them are going to be finishing alongside our everyday athletes as part of the general field. We’re watching how the competitiveness of that category develops and we’ll evaluate potential changes.”

She’s not wrong. Participation numbers tell the tale of just how tiny this subsect of the population truly is. In 2021, zero non-binary runners even finished the LA Marathon. That crept up to 38 in 2024 and 267 in 2025. For the 2026 race, organizers expected around 150 participants in the non-binary division—out of roughly 27,000 total runners. That’s a whopping 0.54 percent. A portion of those registration fees funds the prize money, but expecting organizers to carve out equal payouts for such a minuscule group is ridiculous. The non-binary category isn’t part of the elite divisions, where cash is awarded based on World Athletics rules that categorize athletes by biological sex. Medals and glory? Sure, but even that is pushing it. Cold, hard cash? That’s a hard “No” when the field is this small and uncompetitive.

If these non-binary runners had swallowed their pride and competed in the category matching their sex assigned at birth, they might have actually been eligible for that prize money. Instead, they demand a custom lane with custom rewards, and then they cry foul when reality doesn’t bend to their woke ideology. World Athletics, a Monaco-based body that governs many sporting competitions, sets the rule: elite categorization remains male or female based on biological sex, and prize dispersion is up to the individual races. The LA Marathon is simply following the standards that keep elite competition fair and sustainable.

This isn’t about inclusion; it’s about forcing everyone else to subsidize a boutique identity category that barely registers on the radar and will most likely be a passing fad. Male and female winners earned their payouts through fierce competition in massive fields grounded in biological reality. Non-binary “winners” like Calamia are essentially running in a participation division—great for personal validation, but laughable when turned into a handout demand. Organizers deserve credit for standing firm: the category can grow organically if it proves itself, but until then, no one owes anyone a payday just for showing up in a new checkbox. California’s marathon scene doesn’t need more virtue-signaling—it needs common sense. And right now, the LA Marathon is virtue-signaling with the mere development of the category, but at least organizers are delivering on the common sense one non-prize at a time.