[ad_1]
Feminist activists say they are ‘lost for words’ after it emerged that a Parkrun women’s record is still held by a transgender champion fell runner who was jailed for attempting to murder a UK Athletics official.
Former British fell-running champion Lauren Jeska, 41, was jailed in 2017 when a dispute with a UK Athletics official over her eligibility to compete as a female athlete when she was born male turned violent.
Oxford-educated Jeska was handed an 18-year prison sentence for repeatedly stabbing UK Athletics’ head of human resources, Ralph Knibbs, then 42.
Mr Knibbs suffered life-threatening injuries when Jeska took two knives to his office at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium and repeatedly stabbed him after being told her titles would be null and void in row over testosterone levels.
Two of his colleagues were also hurt as they tried to stop the ‘frenzied’ attack.
But it has emerged that on the Parkrun website, Jeska continues to hold the women’s record for the Aberystwyth Parkrun, with a time of 17 minutes 38 seconds, prompting fury from feminist activists.
It comes after a British Olympian claimed that Parkrun’s gender self-ID policy was enabling men to ‘smash’ women’s record.
Jeska – who was jailed in 2017 for attempting to stab a UK Athletics official – pictured at a running event. It emerged she still holds the Parkrun women’s record title
Jeska was jailed for 18 years in 2017 for the attempted murder of Ralph Knibbs
UK Athletics official Ralph Knibbs (pictured) endued life-threatening injuries and described the attack in court as a ‘traumatic, life-changing experience’
Heather Binning, founder of the Women’s Rights Network, told The Telegraph she was ‘lost for words’ that Jeska still retains the record.
She said: ‘I am lost for words that a male is stealing what should be women’s records first of all, and setting these records that will not be broken – these records are frozen, women won’t beat them.’
Ms Binning added it was ‘gobsmacking’ that Jeska was in prison for the attempted murder of a UK Athletics official who questioned her eligibility as a female runner.
Mara Yamauchi, a two-time Olympian, said that it was ‘an example of the erasure of female achievements in parkrun’.
The British elite marathon runner previously claimed that Parkrun’s gender self-ID was enabling men to ‘smash’ women’s record.
She said that a Parkrun female group course record was ‘smashed to smithereens by a trans-identifying male’ and believes the record may now be ‘out of female hands forever’.
On the subject of self-ID, a spokesperson for Parkrun said the fun run was not a race or athletic competition overseen by national or international federations and believed that it would not be ‘appropriate or practical’ to request proof of gender or ‘adjudicate the validity of a person’s gender identity’.
Lauren Jeska, a transgender former champion fell-runner, was jailed for 18 years for the attempted murder of an athletics official
Jeska (pictured) was jailed in 2017 for attempting to stab a UK Athletics official to death
Jeska, who transitioned in 2000, studied mathematics at Oxford University before completing a master’s in Gender, Sexuality and Queer Theory at the University of Leeds.
She won a series of titles for her performance in the sport – including the women’s 2010, 2011 and 2012 English fell running champion, and 2012 British champion.
It is believed she had told a handful of people of her sex change, including those at the UK Athletics board.
The dispute arose in 2015 after she failed to provide blood samples to prove her testosterone levels had lowered significantly enough to continue running as a woman.
As a result, her racing results were to be declared null and void.
A week before the attack on Mr Knibbs, he had gone to meet Jeska at her home to discuss the ‘long-term’ issue with the sporting governing body.
On March 22, 2016, Jeska drove from her home in Wales to Brimingham with two large kitchen knives hidden in a rucksack into the UK Athletics office before launching her attack on Mr Knibbs.
Despite being stabbed in the throat, in a blow which nicked both his carotid artery and jugular vein, the victim managed to grab both Jeska’s wrists while shocked colleagues rushed to his aid.
Two other men – Tim Begley and Kevan Taylor – were also injured as Jeska resisted, before half a dozen workers managed to pin her to the ground until police arrived.
One eyewitness said Jeska looked ‘as though she were trying to skewer meat’.
Mr Knibbs told the court the ‘traumatic, life-changing experience’ had robbed him of his independence, with long-term nerve damage suffered both in the attack and by necessary life-saving surgery afterwards.
He had also suffered a stroke during the assault, resulting in partial permanent sight-loss.
Jeska was born Michael and transitioned in 2000
Jeska is a former champion fell-runner who won a series of titles for her performance in the sport
The judge told Jeska her attack had been ‘planned and executed with chilling precision’, calling the case a ‘deeply disturbing and complex one’.
Her lawyer Julia Warburton at the time described Jeska as a ‘woman in crisis’.
She said: ‘She had to have blood tests or she would be removed from the results of her races.
‘Because of these tests, her transgender status would be outed and she had not spoken of it with some people before.
‘She was a woman in crisis who needed assistance. She felt like she was being killed.’
Jeska, of Machynlleth, Powys, was jailed in 2017 for the attempted murder former Bristol RFC centre Mr Knibbs over a dispute of whether she would be able to compete as a woman
Jeska pictured at a running event
Jeska, of Machynlleth, Powys, admitted attempting to murder former Bristol RFC centre Mr Knibbs, and was jailed for 18 years, in what the judge described as a ‘cool, calculated attack’ which had been ‘wholly unprovoked’.
She was also convicted on two counts of assaulting his colleagues, Tim Begley and Kevan Taylor, and carrying knives in public.
Parkrun is a global running community which organises 5km races every Saturday for all abilities, encouraging people to run, walk or spectate in the event.
The fun run was started in Teddington in 2004 and has gained fans around the world. Parkrun allows runners to self-identitfy their gender as ‘male’, ‘female’, ‘non-binary’ or ‘prefer not to say’.
Parkrun was contacted for comment.
[ad_2]