She won her race but was told she needed to beat the men to win a prize

Author : mamun Published: April 28, 2019

Updated

April 29, 2019 10:39:34

Photo:
Alexandra Blake won the QUT Classic’s women’s 5km race but says she was told she needed to beat the men to get prize money. (Supplied: Alexandra Blake)

One of Queensland’s leading universities has been forced to backflip over a decision not to award female runners prize money at a weekend fun run.

Key points:

Alexandra Blake won the women’s 5km race but didn’t win any prize money
She said she was told she needed to beat the men to win
QUT said it was an “oversight” and it will now award the top three male and female runners

Brisbane runner Alexandra Blake crossed the line first in the women’s 5 kilometre race category at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Classic, but was outraged when she didn’t receive a cent, unlike her male counterparts.

“I train just as hard as those guys. I come here thinking that if I do well I can get something out of it to support my running and I don’t see how I’m any less valued than the men,” Ms Blake said.

When she confronted a race official, she claims she was told, “the money was only for the first three across the line, that was always the case and we made that very clear in our advertising”.

Photo:
The event has been run annually since 2016 to raise funds for scholarships. (Facebook: QUT Classic)

“I just felt angry,” she told the ABC.

Her father Mark Blake posted on social media that organisers should be ashamed of themselves.

“This is a pure disgrace and sexist in the extreme. It’s not about the money — it’s about the simple concept of equality,” he said.

“My daughter who won the 5km was told by the race director — it’s simple enough, if you want prize money you simply have to beat the men.

“You sir should never be allowed near athletics or any sport again.”

His post prompted similar sentiments as it was shared on Facebook.

“That’s disgusting! Especially from a university!” Kim Kamprad said.

“[It’s a] sad state of affairs when this equality is not evident in Australia. It’s a sad message you are sending to women in general,” Senan Michael Gibson wrote.

Photo:
Alexandra Blake said she felt angry. (Supplied: Alexandra Blake)

The QUT Classic website said first, second and third place men and women would receive prize packs, including a bowling voucher and a YMCA membership.

It said the winners of the 10km and 5km races would receive cash prizes as well.

Ms Blake’s father Mark Blake said the winner of the 5km race was given $300.

Winner of the men’s 10 kilometre run, Tim Vincent, said he was surprised the winning women were not offered cash prizes.

“Runners like myself and both the other men and women yesterday frequently attend local road races … we all know them well and every single race that I know of has equal prize money as it should be,” he said.

Mr Vincent said it was a great event but organisers had made a “huge mistake”.

“I hope they can fix this as soon as possible as gender equality is something that is supported and embraced within the athletics community from a local to international level,” he said.

Uni will now give all winners money

QUT described the decision to the ABC as an “oversight” and said its “intention was to award prize money to the first three runners over the line, regardless of gender.”

“We apologise for this and given QUT’s oversight we have restructured the winnings and will now be awarding cash prizes to the top three female and male runners,” QUT said in a statement.

Ms Blake commended the university’s response, but said she believed the incident was poorly handled.

“To be honest it was actually the reaction from the race director, that he had the audacity to say to me, ‘how can you tell me this isn’t fair’.”

The university said all race winners will now be contacted.

The event has been run annually since 2016 to raise funds for QUT’s Learning Potential Fund, providing scholarships to low-income students.

Topics:

women,

community-and-society,

qld,