Fit to race note- Alps

[Epocian]

Did a race in Italy a couple of years ago and we had to email a copy of the medical certificate with our entry but also needed to take the original to collect our numbers on the day. One of our team forgot the original but was given her number after the official had crossed the number through with a marker pen, she was allowed to start but wasn't on the official results at the end

[Vampire]

I doubt they check who's signed it. I signed my own one certifying I was hale and hearty at the time of signing. They were processing thousands of them so we're just box ticking.
That was Mont Blanc marathon.

I nearly did this last year for the Mont Blanc Marathon. My doctors charges £35 for this as a private service, though makes no commitment as to when they'll have it ready - the first year it took them a week, last year it took them almost 4 weeks with me chasing them and getting quite irate at the end. Obviously for Mont Blanc Marathon you need to submit the form within a month of being told you're in or you lose the place - so I was very close to signing my own and hoping for the best.

I don't know where you'd stand insurance wise if you got injured and then it subsequently came to light that you'd signed your own medical form, it probably wouldn't go down well.

[neilly]

Probably not but the form is asking if there are any medical reasons why you can't compete at the time of signing. This form was completed nearly six months before the race. Anything could have happened in that time. As a means to weed out any unfit competitors it's pretty weak. That's why I thought and still think it was a paper exercise.
In regards to injuries, I was covered by my own health insurance and E1 11.
Neil

[MorganW]

Probably not but the form is asking if there are any medical reasons why you can't compete at the time of signing. This form was completed nearly six months before the race. Anything could have happened in that time. As a means to weed out any unfit competitors it's pretty weak. That's why I thought and still think it was a paper exercise.
In regards to injuries, I was covered by my own health insurance and E1 11.
Neil

I mentioned earlier that in France athletes are put through a medical before being issued with a licence to compete.

That licence may have been issued months before the race, so the same issue of currency arises with both "systems".

French law is markedly different to English law and these systems have their root in the French Civil Code and the obligations on organisers that flow from those provisions.

The bottom line is that these certificates are a race organiser's requirement for entry and participation and in that sense are no different than say a kit requirement or specification.

[drmorris]

Speaking as a medical man...
(UK GP and a bit of a runner)

We get these from time to time, almost exclusively for events in continental Europe.
They often come to me (within the practice) as I'm interested in Sports.

They're what we cynically call a 'GANFYD' ; 'Get a Note From Your Doctor'.

They are a requirement for the race entry; but they are of no value whatsoever which is probably why we don't have them in the UK even for Big Running events like GNR and London Marathon etc, not even for Ultras or Obstacle races over here.
They are of no value because their is no predictive value in a static assessment, and most of us have no facility for dynamically stress-testing individuals to the extent they will be in the event; Nice Marathon or Marathon de Medoc, or UTMB etc
Indeed, a young man died in a local half marathon this year. He was adequately trained and prepared, a regular runner, completely out of the blue.

These notes are basically a poorly though out, slope-shoulders liability transfer exercise, and it does make a lot of medical colleagues unhappy to think that they are signing a certificate to 'guarantee' a healthy outcome from a punishing event.

However, you can't take part without the worthless slip of paper...

...so I sit anyone down who asks me, check that their preparation/ training/ expectation matches the size of the proposed challenge, warn them that people die or hurt themselves ALL THE TIME doing stuff like this, and warn them that my signature is not a guarantee of immortality, and that the event is at their own risk. And I document that in their notes

I sign the form, and waive any fee (unless the individual has been unusually belligerent with the reception team) and suggest they may want to donate to Mountain Rescue/ Lifeboats/ our local Hospice/ Medecin sans Frontieres the next time they have an opportunity

seems to me to be an honest and sensible compromise between accuracy and integrity.

[IanDarkpeak]

Excellent post David...

and echo's my sentiments exactly...