In reply to Fell Junior, the point I was making was that one has to accept the demands of insurance companies. I kind of dismissed the idea that our sport would want to be setting limits on the distances young people ran but it seems you think it should.

I write as one who did a Marathon in 1976 at age 13 years and one day.

It is unfortunate that, whereas in 1976 you could have expected moderately healthy children to run relatively long distances, perhaps you cannot do so now.

What children do badly is short, explosive type events.

It is probably best discussed on a different thread. I respect the insurance issue in so far as it concerns our sport. I only disagree if you are saying there is a physiological basis for it.

Chris Smale