Made with the best of intentions, the modification was radical. Perhaps too extreme in the minds of some?
Ryan Parton did not know. But, as race director of the Frontrunners Fit Chiropractic Dodge City X off-road triathlon, he was certainly braced for backlash.
Parton and the other organizers, keen to enhance inclusivity and fairness, had decided to ditch traditional gender categories. Dropping the male category entirely, they opted for female and open classifications, adding a non-competitive “gender non-binary” option.
Now, more than a year later, there still hasn’t been a discouraging word about the groundbreaking restructuring of the Cumberland. B.C.-based race, which is held every September.
“No one should ever be made to feel like a round peg trying to fit into a square hole,” Parton explained in a press release leading up to the 2023 race, the first to include the revamp. “Biological females who continue to identify as such will compete in the female category. Everyone else under the rainbow has the open category, without any judgment, expectations or questions asked.
“Whoever you are, and however you express your identity, you’re welcome at our event.”
Part of the hosting organization’s “Diversity Kicks Ass” campaign, the new look was appreciated by Triathlon Canada.
And, so far, nary a gripe from anyone else.
“This is the cynic in me, I expected some pushback. I thought I’d receive some negative feedback, but I haven’t received a lick of it. That makes me proud,” Parton was saying the other day. “Cumberland’s old nickname is Dodge City, so there are definitely two sides to the community — the old rough and tumble side and the new progressive side.
“So there was a lot of potential for feedback or confrontation. It just never happened.”
Heartening, in fact, has been the opposite reaction — acceptance of the newfangled setup.
For the first race under the new format, there was only one athlete entered in the gender non-binary category, meaning, no matter what happened on the course, they would stand as the winner. “I reached out to them beforehand, ‘You’re going to be at the top. Do you want to be acknowledged?’” says Parton. “And they’re like, ‘Yeah, absolutely. Let’s go out there and wave the flag.’ They were just super stoked.”
As an advocate of inclusivity, he’s always believed in respect and love, no matter who you are. “I don’t want anyone to feel they don’t have a place in our sport. However you identify, you have a place here. Everyone’s welcome. We want everyone to feel comfortable.”
For Parton himself, it’s been quite a story — from water-polo-playing teenager in Manitoba to cutting-edge race director in B.C. It’s a journey that began in 2015 when he tackled his first triathlon.
Having relocated to Vancouver Island, he’d been enticed by the notion of a multisport off-road challenge and — what do you know? — in his debut he earned second in the 35-39 age group at the XTERRA Victoria sprint.
“I loved it,” says Parton. “It rekindled the competitive juices.”
At the 2016 national cross triathlon championship in Penticton, B.C., he placed ninth in his age group in standard distance. Then, prevailing in Victoria, he qualified for the 2017 world championships in Maui, Hawaii, where he wound up finishing in the top half of the field.
By then, though, Parton’s attention had already started to shift.
He’d heard that Triathlon BC was eager to stage an off-road event in Cumberland. “Through my contacts in the valley, I know a lot of people,” says Parton, who operates a copywriting business. “I wanted to see this happen, so I said, ‘Let me try to find you a race director.’”
Take a guess at how that went. “I never found anyone, but the more I got thinking about it, the more I thought, ‘Damn it, I want to do this.'”
So he dedicated one day a week to organizing the race. The inaugural event, in 2018, was a hit. The following year, it served as the provincial championship. The COVID-19 pandemic scrubbed the next one, but the Dodge City X was sanctioned as a world championship qualifier in 2021, then as host of the nationals in 2022 and 2023. “That was kind of cool.”
Cool enough, apparently, to keep Parton on the hot seat.
He does not run things by himself, of course. A half-dozen captains take charged of different aspects of the event. And there are 50 to 70 race-day volunteers.
“I’m always overwhelmed by how the community comes together,” says Parton. “I’ll be so stressed out about every little detail, ‘Did I forget this? Am I doing this right?’ But people come up, put the proverbial arm around the shoulder, ‘We got it. Don’t worry.’ It’s pretty special.
“It feels like my baby, but it’s very much for and of the community.”
As far as his competitive streak, consider it in hibernation. “I call myself a recovering triathlete,” says Parton, chuckling. “I’m focusing more on experiences — go on some surf trips, do some mountain-biking trips. Although if I had to bet, I’d say I’ll probably end up on the start line of another cross triathlon at some point.”
For now, though, he’s a race director, one who’s earned a blue ribbon for helping to put the Dodge City X on the Canadian triathlon map. And bold measures to bolster diversity and inclusion only add to the breadth of Parton’s vision.
“I’d like to think I’m coming at it from the right place,” he says. “I’m definitely proud of the race and the event we’ve put together. And I’m proud of the whole community that’s embraced it.”