Quote Originally Posted by Witton Park View Post
It's also fair to say that if you allow someone in a race under age, after they have signed a disclaimer, as an RO what would happen then if that under age child caused an injury to another runner.
I could see the RO in deep water there, having already signed up to the Safety Requirements that dictate the accepted age limits.

However, with my other hat firmly on, there is ample evidence that some of the race limits, not just for fell, but for endurance runners progressing through their teens are ill judged.

A young endurance runner of say 14 would be far less likely to come to any grief in say a 4 mile trail race such as they have in Astley Park Chorley, than in a sprint hurdles race.
I also often see 10K race where they have age limit at 16 or 17, when UKA rules state 15.

I actually think that fell running gets it about right with the age and distances. But the closest comparison is XC - our U13 Girls are running around 2.5km / 1.5 mile cross country races in flat parks and yet can run up to 3 miles on fell terrain a U14s.
Two points:

1. I believe UKA are currently considering age/distance limits. I think the FRA will comment on the differences between, say, a fell race and a road race ie "apples and oranges".


2. "Hard cases make bad law" as in "Ian Holmes ran a marathon when he was 16 or something and it didn't do him any harm". Well, maybe not, but there is only one Ian Holmes, hindsight is always 20:20 and we can only have one rule. Not one rule for the weak and another for prodigies.