Utrecht openly discriminates against non-Dutch in marathon
Utrecht marathon bans foreign runners door tvnportal
On Monday 25 April, the city of Utrecht will hold its annual marathon, and the organisers have decided that non-Dutch participants are less worthy of winning this race as they’re simply too good and win too much. Sounds like something an elementary school teacher would say to the smart children not to hurt the stupid kids’ feelings.
Organisers are trying to discourage Kenyans in particular from taking part, saying only invited runners can win ‘big money’ prizes. Only Dutch nationals have been invited to take part.
If this isn’t discrimination, I don’t know what is. No other Dutch marathon does this.
(Link dutchnews.nl, Tip: Stefan)
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It’s straight-up racist scapegoating. Glad you are reporting on this. I read the same story in DutchNews and saw a video on RNW.
Comment by Jay Vos — April 14, 2011 @ 2:57 pm
As a Kenyan in am dismayed. This is very pathetic, Xenophobic. These Utretch folks are sore losers. If you cant compete with these best and beat them what do you do? discriminate against them.
I say remove the ICC from Holland, these guys should be the ones encouraging fairness and they are going ahead with this racist marathon.
Comment by al — April 14, 2011 @ 8:38 pm
I would like to see the original source for this story before concluding that there is racism here. Whenever I have had first hand knowledge of a styory in the news I have found the reality to be very different fromm what is being reported.
Comment by Tom — April 19, 2011 @ 4:19 pm
The film *is first-hand knowledge* and the newspapers are very upset as well.
Look, there’s more: http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/dutchman-has-solution-discrimination-utrecht-marathon
Comment by Orangemaster — April 19, 2011 @ 4:30 pm
[…] Utrecht openly discriminates against non-Dutch in marathon. The policy caused an international stir and will be changed next year, although the goal, sadly, is to favour Dutch runners so they can win money. […]
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