Yelled at by a kid's parent at a local race

This is a typical start around my area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpZeThJT-NQ

aasd234 wrote:

This is a typical start around my area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpZeThJT-NQ

That has to be quite possibly the most idiotic race start I've ever seen in my entire life.

shut up wrote:

That has to be quite possibly the most idiotic race start I've ever seen in my entire life.

I enjoyed watching the people who were already intently checking their watches 30 feet into the race. It is incredibly important to hit the 10 meter mark at just the right time. Blow that first split, and you'll never recover.

joho wrote:

Young kids lining up at the front no longer bother me because I know they are going to take off at a sub 6 minute pace anyway. Hopefully the crowd has thinned out by the time they slow down and you can pass.

Maybe your experience is different from mine, but typically, the kids who start at the front and sprint at the gun only last 100 yards or so before becoming obstacles for the majority of race entrants to have to watch out for and try to dodge as they slow to a jog.

The experienced race directors in my town ask the kids to either start at one side (and thus allowing everyone else to line up at the other side) or ask them to move to the back. They've probably determined that it is easier to ask all kids to line up to one side than to risk the wrath of helicopter parents by asking them to move back.

I've seen some ugly incidents with inexperienced race directors who don't say anything when Junior lines up front and dead center, takes off with a sprint, and then slows to a walk as runners blow past him. It's an accident waiting to happen.

aasd234 wrote:

I was finishing up strides and came to the line to get ready to start the race and noticed that the starting line had a lot of little kids and other people that had no reason to be at the front of the starting line. I basically stood directly in front of a younger kid and the parent yelled at me to stop bullying their kid. I pretty much ignored it, but told them it wasn't safe for them to be up front unless they were good enough to finish in the top of the race. This seems like something a race director should address and not put the runners in an awkward situation like this. Was I out of line here? Does anyone have a similar experience?

Assuming you're telling the whole story here, you were not out of line. Parents need to be educated about proper race safety. Allowing a young kid to line up front isn't safe, for them or others. Race directors need to be pro-active in enforcing the whole line up according to expected pace thing.

That said, I can understand when a kid does this. They just don't know any better. What kills me is when overweight, out of shape adults line up on the front and only last 50 yards or so before slowing down to a jog. THEY should know better.

10m split wrote:

I enjoyed watching the people who were already intently checking their watches 30 feet into the race. It is incredibly important to hit the 10 meter mark at just the right time. Blow that first split, and you'll never recover.

Did it ever occur to you that they were checking to make sure their watch started?

I got no problem with any competitor (little kid, female, old, etc.) lining up in the front if they are vying for an age group award.

Sweet Nell Fenwick wrote:

only run races with proper corals.

Like the Great Barrier Reef Invitational.

Dude - awesome. I am embarrassed by my poor spelling.

I have no problem with the RD enforcing some order, but that is not the role of nosey parkers like the OP.

If you don't like how the race is organised, don't race.

Best solution I've found: have a faux start line about 10 yards back from the real start line. Even hold up a rope or some sort of baracade for people to line up behind. Then a minute or so before the start, remove the baracade and have the fast runners line up on the real start line. This often works well as the kids (directed by their parents) almost always line up behind the fake start line.

That's the best solution I've found to a decades old problem. I've actually had irate parents get in my face because I asked their kids to move back from the start line. Even as I tried to explain that it was for safety (so their kid doesn't get trampled), they could only rant about how mean and unfair I was.

They probably just wanted to make sure their watch started when they pressed the button. Often at a crowded start, I won't hear the "beep".

That said, looking down at your wrist at that point in time may not be the smartest thing to do.

hahaha, clever

Sweet Nell Fenwick wrote:

only run races with proper corals.

Like the Great Barrier Reef Invitational.

aasd234 wrote:

This is a typical start around my area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpZeThJT-NQ

What has happened to our sport?

LOL @ you wrote:

dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd wrote:

I think you were out of line - when did you become the start line judge? Did you ask each competitor for a certified race result from within the last month so that you could seed everybody properly? The safety thing is a myth.

If you don't like having to dodge slower runners then either line up early, or only run races with proper corals. This isn't your business and you shouldn't go around telling people what to do.

If some busy body decided to tell my kid where to line up at a race, I would come over and start bossing you around too.

Sounds like you're one of the insecure slow asses that tries to start in front of people significantly faster than you. No real surprise there.

Where exactly in my message does it sound like I am slow and that I tend to start in front of people?

Your reading comprehension is quite poor. I suspect that is but one of the many weaknesses holding your back in life. The good news is that if you apply yourself you might be able to overcome this issue.

Something I do wrote:

That's the best solution I've found to a decades old problem. I've actually had irate parents get in my face because I asked their kids to move back from the start line. Even as I tried to explain that it was for safety (so their kid doesn't get trampled), they could only rant about how mean and unfair I was.

These types of parents amaze me. I love my sons more than anything else in the world, but I can't imagine expecting everyone to go out of their way to accommodate my kid.

father of sons wrote:

Something I do wrote:

That's the best solution I've found to a decades old problem. I've actually had irate parents get in my face because I asked their kids to move back from the start line. Even as I tried to explain that it was for safety (so their kid doesn't get trampled), they could only rant about how mean and unfair I was.

These types of parents amaze me. I love my sons more than anything else in the world, but I can't imagine expecting everyone to go out of their way to accommodate my kid.

It's not about accomodating your kid, it is about some clown with no authority getting in my kid's face and bossing him around.

If the RD does it - no problem. If their coach wants to yell at them, cool. If some overstressed hobby jogger trying to PR in the local turkey trot wants to tell my kid what to do - nope.

I raise my kids right, and I would not tell them to go to the front, but if I did (for whatever reason), it's not up to random people up front to police this - especially because they have no idea how fast anyone else around them is.

When I was 14 I was placing top ten overall at most local road races - losers would always try to get me off the front and I would just laugh at them around the first 800ms as I left them in the dust.

elgato wrote:

You did the right thing. I was at a race a couple of months ago where a bunch of kids crowded up front - gun goes off and one small-ish kid sprints DIRECTLY into a traffic cone meant to mark the course, falls down, rolls INTO the crowd and takes out 2-3 guys. It was incredible. Parents seem to think it's cute to put their little kid up front, but it's super dangerous... That said, when I tried to warn a parent about such things at a turkey trot last week, I got essentially the same result as you. Clearly we should all make way for these parents' precious little flowers.

Sounds to me like you are so scared that a little kid is going to trip you that you want to make them start behind you so as to protect you - who is the precious little flower now?

Something I do wrote:

Best solution I've found: have a faux start line about 10 yards back from the real start line. Even hold up a rope or some sort of baracade for people to line up behind. Then a minute or so before the start, remove the baracade and have the fast runners line up on the real start line. This often works well as the kids (directed by their parents) almost always line up behind the fake start line.

That's the best solution I've found to a decades old problem. I've actually had irate parents get in my face because I asked their kids to move back from the start line. Even as I tried to explain that it was for safety (so their kid doesn't get trampled), they could only rant about how mean and unfair I was.

Whose safety? And why do you get to decide what is safe for a kid and what isn't? If it is for your own safety, why don't you just line up far away from the kid?

Newsflash, no one wants you going around decided what is safe on their behalf.

dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd wrote:

If the RD does it - no problem. If their coach wants to yell at them, cool. If some overstressed hobby jogger trying to PR in the local turkey trot wants to tell my kid what to do - nope.

In the incidents I referenced I was the RD. As a runner running a race myself, I don't ask kids to move. I just work around them the best I can, realizing that they mean no harm; they just don't know any better. When I RD a race, I have a responsibility to make the even as safe and enjoyable as possible, and allowing an 8 year old to line up front and center is incompatible with that goal.

Something I do wrote:

dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd wrote:

If the RD does it - no problem. If their coach wants to yell at them, cool. If some overstressed hobby jogger trying to PR in the local turkey trot wants to tell my kid what to do - nope.

In the incidents I referenced I was the RD. As a runner running a race myself, I don't ask kids to move. I just work around them the best I can, realizing that they mean no harm; they just don't know any better. When I RD a race, I have a responsibility to make the even as safe and enjoyable as possible, and allowing an 8 year old to line up front and center is incompatible with that goal.

We on the same page in that regard. As for parents who give an RD a problem when an RD manages a start line - they are morons.