In early February of this year, Kristen Doornbos created the EQUAL Prize Money for Wheelchair & Para Athletes campaign, with the main goal being that prize money would go to top finishing disabled athletes in the Wheelchair and Para divisions at major marathons.
Eight months later, she’s still fighting for the change that she wishes to see. The petition now has 1000 signatures, and the passion that Doornbos had when she first started the campaign has only increased, as she looks to bring awareness to the issue.
“The current prize money structure isn’t promoting real equality,” she said. “And it only deepens and perpetuates the inequity and discrimination that people with disabilities deal with in all areas of life by continuing those discrepancies in the sport of running. In many ways the (Boston Athletic Association) is setting the precedent for the additional Para categories in the distance running world right now. And my fear is that more races will follow this same structure of paying non-disabled athletes top dollar, while failing to give disabled athletes the dignity, respect, and equal pay that they deserve.”
Currently, the Atlanta Track Club’s AJC Peachtree Road Race is the only race that offers equal prize money to all athletes in every division. While Doornbos is hoping that the changes that she’s fighting for impacts every major marathon, the Boston Marathon is the first marathon that she hopes to work with because of the multiple divisions that they have for para athletes.
“Boston is the only of the major marathons that has the official categories for para athletes other than just the wheelchairs,” she said. “The fact that they recognize them in an official capacity and have a competitive bracket for them, and it makes more sense to start with the marathon that is closests to realizing that goal of paying athletes equally. The fact that they have that is a huge step in front of where Chicago and New York are.”
Such an enormous cause can be highly difficult for someone to handle, but Doornbos relies on a small group of her friends that are all-in for the cause that she’s fighting for.
“I think having a couple of key friendships with athletes who are invested in this has been really important for me,” she said. “Having two-three people who will cheer me on and send me little news articles when they find things, and try to stay in the know when things are happening. I try to keep up on it, but I’m only one person, so having other eyes on what’s going on, and having those people to encourage me and keep prodding me forward, and generating new ideas.”
One of the ideas that proved to be extremely useful where the campaign is concerned came from her friend, Sarah.
Sarah suggested that Doornbos put together postcards to send to the B.A.A. with the hope that it would open up a line of communication between her and the B.A.A. The idea took off, and it paid off.
“It was effective in that it got their attention and it started a back and forth email conversation between the B.A.A and myself,” she said. “I never would have had that idea. Just having people like that who are so instrumental, they get what it means to be an athlete, they get what it means to have a disability, they get the entire vision of it, and they’re on board. It doesn’t necessarily need to be someone who’s famous in the running world or has the biggest connections. We’re just people who are trying to make a difference and come up with ideas to get the attention of these race directors.”
Doornbos knew that the road to the change that she’s hoping to see wouldn’t be easy when she started the campaign, and it hasn’t always been easy thus far. But she’s attacking this challenge with the same mindset that she attacks any obstacle she faces.
“The way that I’m approaching this is kind of the way I approach anything,” she said. “When you see a roadblock, it’s not about taking that away, it’s about trying to figure out a way around it. It’s about trying to find other avenues of moving forward instead of what I thought it would look like originally. I think that’s important to the will to keep going. It’s just adapting, and finding new ways of doing things or trying to get the same point across.”
Doornbos said that she’s been encouraged by the small progress that’s being made as of late, and that she has the courage to fight for this cause because it’s easier for her to be brave when she’s fighting for someone else. No matter what happens, don’t expect Doornbos to throw in the towel when it comes to her campaign.
“I really just believe in the importance of it,” she said. “If I didn’t truly believe that the way things are is in some way discriminatory and that these athletes deserve better, then I think I would’ve given up by now.”
https://www.change.org/p/boston-athletic-association-equal-prize-money-for-wheelchair-para-athletes
