Transgender runners can now participate in the Boston Marathon as their own identified gender. Boston Marathon officials made the announcement last week after the issue was brought to their attention following a profile on three transgender runners from Canada signed up for this year’s event. According to the Boston Athletic Association, organizers have been asked for years to be allowed to participate as their identified gender.

“We don’t require that runners outline their gender identity history with us, so we can’t say for certain how many trans runners are in our race. We do know that we have had several transgender runners in the past,” said the organization.

Both New York and Chicago Marathons have similar policies as long as those who register have government IDs. The BAA says, “We do compare the ID with the person’s qualification-associated gender description.”

This year’s marathon takes place April 16.