Yawn.
We can (and indeed should) debate the wider context of junior training and racing, and indeed FRA rules, ’till the cows come home, but perhaps on a different thread (?) rather than hijacking a simple request / reminder regarding current 2012 FRA rules (1st post). Yes, it’s clear the first post riled some folk to question and or ask for the rules (and the '18 b'day quirk') to be clarified (that means ‘made clear’ by the way, not ‘please introduce other diversionary discussions that have nothing to do with trying ones hardest to understand and obey the existing rules’)...
The purpose of the original post (I believe, but am willing to be corrected) was simply to remind folk what the FRA 2012 Junior rules (like in 2011, and 2010, and....) are, two simple rules relating to age and distance, with an adult-quirk at 18. Basically, as things currently stand (for the 2012 season) the FRA rules are pretty straightforward, once ’read and digested’ rather than ‘read and spewed up’. Certainly not rocket science. Outside FRA, in training / other races, ‘we can do whatever we want’ relative to our own beliefs / other rules. Inside FRA , we can exchange views so as to influence what happens in 2013, 2014, ... 2050, but let’s leave and accept 2012 rules as 2012 rules. Hence why, a reminder to follow 2012 rules for 2012 (1st post), seems pretty straightforward as a standalone request ... to me at least.
As a FRA member, part of a family membership, and parent to 3 Juniors, but with no coaching credentials, that’s pretty much all I need to know for FRA Junior rules for 2012, along with the other helpful website material. I would think the majority of the parents, once familiar with the rules, are the same, and it’s maybe a minority of parents that ‘don’t get it’ and hassle the RO for dispensations. Don’t tar us all with the same brush.
Yawn.
Obiwansikobe.
PS. Kenyan youth (as in many other countries), often (normally) travel several km to and from school each day on foot, and often ‘run’ rather than ‘walk’, but rarely ‘race’; it’s just part of the daily commute. Glad my kids, even in Tameside, at the boundary of their school catchment area, walk / run the 1 mile to / from school 50% of the time. Unlike many others. Our school’s only at 250m rather than 2500m, so they lose out a bit on the altitude training, but they don’t seem to complain.