Man Wins First Place in Women’s 100m Dash at Pomona-Pitzer Track Meet

Curren (blue top) competing at Pomona's Strehle Track. (Photo Credit: 4fun)

A video showing a man dressed up as a woman to compete in the Women’s 100-Meter Dash at a Pomona-Pitzer track meet went viral on Monday, garnering millions of views across social media platforms. Jonny Curren competed under the name “sara curren” [sic], outpacing 31 female runners to win first place by 0.02 seconds.

“I had no idea that we’d run against a man until my teammates started sending me the video. We were all pretty surprised,” a Claremont Colleges athlete who competed against Curren in the race told the Independent.

Curren, who does not identify as transgender, participated in the Pomona-Pitzer David Salo & Nancy Crenna Collegiate Track & Field Meet as a stunt for his YouTube channel, dubbed "4fun."

Curren before the race. (Photo Credit: 4fun)

The track and field race was part of a longer video, titled “I Illegally Cheated in Sports!” which featured members of the channel attempting to cheat in various semi-professional sporting events.

Though the YouTubers say in the video that the race was a “legit D1 track event,” the February meet consisted primarily of Division 3 collegiate track teams and track clubs, as well as “unattached” athletes. Entry information on the Pomona-Pitzer Athletics website dictates that participants must register and pay online before the track meet date. 

“We don’t even know what Jonny is able to run,” a fellow 4fun channel member tells the audience in the video. “I just asked [an official] what is the fastest time here and said Jonny runs that… Don’t ask how we pulled this off.” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU2w9fubCVw

Generally, runners in short-distance track events are assigned lanes based on prior personal records. Despite his lack of track experience, Curren was placed in the fifth lane, indicating he claimed to have the fastest 100m time of the heat members prior to the race. It is still unclear as to whether organizers were aware that he was male. The second place runner, Emma Shiffler of Occidental College, lost to him by just 0.02 seconds. 

“Pomona-Pitzer Athletics follows standard practice for open track and field meets, which allows unattached runners to register and compete without presenting identification,” a spokesperson for Pomona-Pitzer athletics told the Independent in a statement. “We have since learned that an individual fraudulently registered for a February event. Once we were able to confirm these facts, we took steps to remove the individual from the official posted results.”

Shortly after the Independent’s request for comment was received, the results for the Women’s 100-Meter Dash were amended, though some pages still show the original results.