Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies is reportedly threatening Parkrun and nine other sports bodies with legal action over their open-door transgender policies.
Davies is calling for Parkrun, as well as the Welsh and Irish Football Associations, to ban biologically male athletes from participating in women’s categories, as per The Telegraph.
Parkrun does not divide runners into male and female categories for competition. Runners can voluntarily select a gender identity for the purposes of data recording. It is generally seen as recreational and not a ‘competition’ against others.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex in a landmark judgement.
Organisations such as the English Football Association and the Rugby Football Union have already cracked down by banning transgender competitors.
Davies and Tracy Edwards MBE have co-signed letters from the Women’s Sports Union – which they founded – as well as legal advocacy organisation ADF International.
Sharron Davies is reportedly threatening Parkrun and other sports bodies with legal action
Parkrun does not make men and women ‘compete’ against each other but people can voluntarily register their gender
‘Any governing body that continues to permit biological males to compete in the female category contravenes the Equality Act 2010 as interpreted by the Supreme Court. This exposes the organisation to immediate and substantial legal liability,’ the letters read, according to The Telegraph, which has seen them.
‘Biological sex is not a negotiable category; it is the essential foundation for safeguarding women and girls and preserving fair competition.’
The letters also state that if ‘active steps’ are not taken to resolve the issues, further steps could include legal action.
Other organisations targeted by Davies and Edwards include British Gymnastics, Swim England, and the Royal Yachting Association.
Parkrun has previously explained their gender policy as such: ‘Parkruns are community-led, socially-focused physical activity events delivered with the aim of improving public health. They are not athletic or sporting competitions of the sort governed by national and international federations. This has implications for the categorisation of participants.
‘Further, parkrun events are open to all and we want to encourage as many people as possible to participate, from all walks of life. This means taking steps to understand and then minimise barriers to registration and to participation that are faced by different people or groups.
‘After careful consideration and extensive consultation–both in 2019 and in 2023, we decided to continue categorising people based on gender rather than sex. We feel this is aligned with us as a health and wellbeing charity that provides non-competitive socially-focused physical activity, and allows people to identify in the way they feel most appropriate and comfortable.’
Davies, a Conservative Peer, said: ‘It is a scandal that men are still allowed to compete against women in sport, a year after the For Women Scotland Supreme Court ruling.
‘Failing to protect women’s sport from males who claim to be female eradicates fairness in competition and presents extreme safeguarding concerns, all in the name of a false ideology.
‘I have heard horror stories from parents whose girls have been exposed to inappropriate and harmful situations, due to the failure to protect female sport categories and changing facilities. All sports bodies must act now to stop the risk of these terrible situations happening again.’
Edwards, a former sailor who in 1989 skippered the first all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, added: ‘When I stood outside the Supreme Court on 16 April 2025 as For Women Scotland won their case, I celebrated the return of sanity. Little did I know that a year later we would still be fighting for the female category in sport, and that over 30 UK sports governing bodies would be shirking their responsibility to women and girls.
‘I have spent my sailing career promoting and facilitating women and girls into sailing and yet the misogyny 37 years after ‘Maiden’ hasn’t gone away, it has just changed shape.’
Daily Mail Sport has contacted Parkrun for comment.
