Ukrainian Running Club New York petitions to ban Russian, Belarusian runners from New York City Marathon

NEW YORK — There’s a push to ban Russians and Belarusians from running the New York City Marathon.

The Ukrainian Running Club New York is petitioning New York Road Runners. The club’s founder, Anna Shpook, says many other sporting events have made similar bans following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

They have nearly 1,000 signatures so far and hope to get more.

“It’s painful for Ukrainians to even participate in events while running shoulder-by-shoulder with people who actually support that violence,” Shpook said.

“It’s not new. You need to join other organizations and do the right thing and stand with Ukraine,” club member Stepan Brelinskyi said.

New York Road Runners released the following statement in response to the petition:

“NYRR … continues to strongly condemn Russia’s devastating and unjust invasion of Ukraine. NYRR has not, and will not, allow or recognize any official representation or country affiliation of Russia or Belarus at any NYRR races, events or programs … However, NYRR will not discriminate against individual runners based on their nationality or country of birth.”  

The organization also shared that runners impacted by the war have received a full refund of their entry fee or their entry was deferred to the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon.