Disqualified because of his bare feet

BarefootSprinter.jpg

Disqualified because of his bare feet


Disgraceful :(

NZ boy disqualified from sprint competition for running in bare feet


Lower Hutt School Sports Association spokesman Neil Sargisson said the rule was there to help protect kids' feet from spiked shoes because young runners sometimes struggled to stick to their lanes.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sp...m-sprint-competition-for-running-in-bare-feet
 
KTR
[I]"Transition?" What do you mean "transition?" [/I] When I was a kid I used to hate sports, and specially running, but a couple o years ago my body startd to send me signs that I should start moving. Like "come on, mate, do [I]something[/I]." I...
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Strange, since NZ is known for promoting barefootedness and barefoot running in public schools.
 
Well that sucks. I can't follow the link since it's blocked here but did he run the whole race and then disqualified later? Protecting ones feet isn't really an issue afterwards if he already completed it. :wacky: But I understand it could be concern for a school track event. Even in cross country in high school I had been stepped on a couple times by other runners wearing spikes, and when I ran you could wear 5/8" spikes.
 
Well that sucks. I can't follow the link since it's blocked here but did he run the whole race and then disqualified later? Protecting ones feet isn't really an issue afterwards if he already completed it. :wacky: But I understand it could be concern for a school track event. Even in cross country in high school I had been stepped on a couple times by other runners wearing spikes, and when I ran you could wear 5/8" spikes.

TL;DR, he qualified for the final barefoot, but he was excluded from it before it started. As @Ahcuah says, it's a made-up excuse.
I paste here the whole article:

A mother has been left fuming after her son was disqualified from a Lower Hutt athletics tournament for running in bare feet.

Organisers say it was to protect the 10-year-old's toes from spiked shoes, and to maintain an equal playing field. But the decision has attracted criticism from some of our Olympic running greats.

Wellesley College Year five student Henry Patterson was disqualified from competing in the final of the 80-metre sprint at an inter-zone primary school competition in central Lower Hutt this month.

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LAWRENCE SMITH/FAIRFAX NZ
Kiwi Olympic running great Sir John Walker says he ran in bare feet until he was 17 and other kids should be allowed too as well.


Earlier in the day he had earned selection with a solid performance in bare feet.


Henry's mum, Andrena Patterson, said she felt sad that not being aware of the "shoe rule" had prevented her son from running in the final, where it was "almost certain he would have either finished first or second".

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INPHO/PHOTOSPORT
Double Olympic medalist in the 1500m Nick Willis says running and walking in bare feet for kids has huge advantages in their development for their running stride.


The family were not aware of the rule until Henry was told to get some shoes at the start line.

"To allow a child to run where he would have qualified on merit, and then disqualify him is cruel and inhumane," Patterson said.

"We haven't broken criminal law here, it's a children's race and we should be encouraging them to participate.

Wellesley College principal Brendan Pitman backed the boy and contested the fairness of the decision.

Lower Hutt School Sports Association spokesman Neil Sargisson said the rule was there to help protect kids' feet from spiked shoes because young runners sometimes struggled to stick to their lanes.

The higher regional grade of competition did not allow bare feet, so the rule also brought continuity, he said.

"Everybody's going to have an opinion on whether or not kids can run in shoes or not. The rule on that day is because most run in shoes."

Sir John Walker, 64, who won gold in the 1500m at the Olympic Games in 1976, said the situation was "political correctness all gone wrong".

"I ran in bare feet until I was 17 along with hundreds of other kids. Soon the kids of today will be unable to do anything due to the new health and safety rules. I am not a fan of these restrictions."

Lower Hutt champion Nick Willis, 33, who won silver in the 1500m at the 2008 Olympics and bronze at the 2016 Olympics, thought it was sad that rules banning barefoot running had been put in place.

"When I ran kids athletics, we weren't allowed to wear track spikes until we turned 10, so 99 per cent of us wore bare feet even on the hard synthetic running track."
 
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Here's more...


Banning boy from running barefoot was 'knee-jerk reaction'
The Southland Times
Banning a 10-year-old boy from running a race barefoot was a knee-jerk reaction caused by paranoia over new health and safety rules, according to a ...
Boy, 10, disqualified from race for running barefoot - New Zealand Herald


Lower Hutt boy disqualified from sprint competition for running in bare feet
The Dominion Post
A mother has been left fuming after her son was disqualified from a Lower Hutt athletics tournament for running in bare feet. Organisers say it was to ...


Boy, 10, disqualified from race for running barefoot
New Zealand Herald
A Wellington mother is furious her son was disqualified from running barefoot from an inter-school event but a local sporting body says it agrees with ...



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"...to maintain an equal playing field."

I guess they were afraid the child had an advantage over the other runners, and they didn't want to admit it.
 
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My sister used to run track barefoot in San Diego County, both in training and in competition. No one ever said a thing. This was many, many years ago.
 
Not only that, but does anyone really believe that the cloth (or other thin material) upper of a running shoe will stop a spike?

It's just a made-up excuse.
I wish that point would be made clear to them.
 
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Updated story now says that it was because of track materials that get too hot in the summer:

But the primary school sports association spokesman, Neil Sargisson, said the rule about shoes was instigated by the organisers of Wellington regional athletics events, based on safety aspects of running in bare feet on synthetic tracks.

"There have been incidents of children running in bare feet on synthetic tracks in summer where the track temperature was in the mid-high 40s and they have finished with blisters and burns on their feet," he said.​

Maybe they ought to regulate what the tracks are allowed to be made of! After all, kids do fall down sometimes in races. An overly hot track would then burn their arms, legs, and even possibly faces.

Or aren't they really concerned about safety?
 
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Hmm. It seems that the Lower Hutt School Sports Association (the ones who disqualified the kid) has a contact page.

I wonder how they'd feel about a bunch of emails from real barefoot runners?
I was thinking that. Did you write to them? I was also thinking that we should write to the kid, if there's some way to get a hold of him, to tell him that we support him.