6 year old runs marathon with family -- fair or foul?

This is not unprecedented. In 1970, Fred Phelps Sr., head of what became known as the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. made all of his children run with him at the Heart of America marathon. The ten children ranged in age from six to seventeen. The six year old took seven hours to finish the difficult Missouri road course.

Agreed. No distance running for a child under age 12.

5K - min age 12

10K - min age 14

Half Marathon - min age 16

Marathon - min age 18

"The kid was offered a promise of an extra bag of chips for continuing after mile 20 or stopping right there."

0/10

My biggest problem with this story is the continued coverup by the race organization. If some family takes their kids on an 8 hour marathon trek, that is probably not going to have long term physical health consequences. But the race director apparently has been issuing official bib numbers to this family of grifters for several years. She is trying to make it seem like this was the first time, but based on the father’s instagram post, it has been going on since 2017. For some reasons of her own, she has continued to make an exception to the rules for this particular family, and she is continuing to lie about it. Iris needs to go!

The race organizers and the family said they are two private entities in harmonious mutual agreement, so all the high minded online co-parents can kiss their combined row of butt cheeks.

Some of these posts reminded me that in the dust bowl era kids walked from Oklahoma to California, though they probably never covered 26 miles in 7 hours.

I live in Australia and come home and wife says hey did you hear about this 6 year old running a marathon. I told her I had heard all about it...Well now the race director has realised his mistake.

wlwt.com

'This decision was not made lightly': Flying Pig director issues statement after 6-year-old allowed to run

https://www.facebook.com/wlwt5/

Following controversy surrounding the decision to allow a 6-year-old boy to run in the full marathon, the director of the Flying Pig Marathon issued an open letter.

Open link

I coach elite athletes and young athletes and I am 100% sure that a race should not endorse a 6 year old running a marathon.

The parents really have no idea. Feel sorry for the young boy. Can't argue with stupid.

It's too young. That's just my opinion. Of course there are worse things in the world but that doesn't make it right either.

I think these people also did something like hike the AT with a toddler as well.

A child won't naturally beg to run a marathon. They just won't. They'll do that if they want to please their parents. The description of after 20 miles doesn't sound healthy.

I'm all for kids being active, having healthy lives, doing lots of different sports, trying new things. But the marathon is a different beast. It's like I wouldn't want a child doing full on rugby, throwing a javelin, doing the triple jump or going orienteering. There are some things that are fine for adults, some that are fine for teenagers and some that are fine for children. I just think the marathon is something to be taken seriously. It's not a 75 metre fun race or a fun run.

I'm not necessarily sure the limit should be 18 as I think most 16 year olds are competent enough to make the decision for themselves. You can join the British army at 16. You can apply before your 16th birthday. I don't think you can go on active duty outside of the UK (they cannot go to places outside of the UK where it would involve becoming engaged in or exposed to hostilities) but you can join at 16. And the UK includes Northern Ireland, which wasn't exactly the most stable place. There are arguments against this as it's child soldiers but it still stands that you can do that, yet you can't run a marathon.

I'm sure a 16 year old would be OK if they trained for it, but that is very different to a six year old, who cannot make the decision for themselves. That's my issue with it. Honestly I think at that age it should be sprints and fun runs only (in terms of running). Maybe long jump, high jump and some basic throws with foam implements. But keep running light and fun. A fun run is a long distance event and that can introduce them to running without it being a marathon! I just don't see any child wanting to run for eight and a half hours in the sun as well, naturally. It doesn't matter if the parents didn't make them, they obviously provided some kind of encouragement and reinforcement along with a lot of attention that made the child want to do it. They pressure these kids to be special and then when they turn into adults and aren't special any more that's when the problems start.

These parents obviously have mental health issues. Also most race directors are ocd crazies themselves. It’s not a good combo. Hopefully all this attention will help to protect young kids from physical and mental abuse like this.

There is no scientific evidence to support the claim that what the kid did, to run-rest-walk 26 miles over 8.5 hours, is harmful. There was also no scientific evidence to support the claim that women’s physiologies were fundamentally incapable of running the 26 mile distance, but it seemed fairly obvious to most everyone back then.

The kid is happy and fine, as are the parents and race organizers. The unhappy people seem to be online co-parents feeling an irrepressible urge to pass judgment on how others should raise their kids.

For survival. Not because they wanted to be on Instagram

Close to a zero percent chance this kid exerted himself physically by walking 26 miles?? Wtf is wrong with you and how could you possibly think something so idiotic.

This whole thread makes me wonder - what recourse does a RD have if someone bandits their race? Sure, you can not allow them to sign up in the future, not give them a medal, tell volunteers not to help them at an aid station. Can you force them off the course (assuming public roads)? On what grounds? Can you get law enforcement involved?

The RD's response seems to be that they were going to show up and do it no matter what, unsanctioned, so he felt it better to actually give them a number so help could be obtained on course. Does that mean that the RD would have no real way to kick them off the course if the showed up as bandits?

You may need to dig into the minutiae of 50 sets of state laws along with thousands of local ordinances to get the answers. I doubt that there is a typical legal framework for such a situation.

I think a 16 year old is competent enough sure, but they are also competent enough to drink or smoke cigs or vote but that doesn't mean they are allowed to do it. And race directors making something 18+ is fine, and not discriminatory.

I think it's fine to discourage kids from running marathons. They aren't being rebellious by pursuing it.

The glorification of teen marathon running has to stop though. If a teen runs a time that would get them attention regardless of their age that's one thing, but none of this precocious! kids! thing when really they are just a kid who happens to have enabling adults around them. Alana Hadley was one example of this. Her times, while fast, were not times that would typically garner news coverage. It was her age that gave her attention. Once she aged out, and started to struggle in earnest with finishing races (18) she disappeared from the sport entirely. Had she been running 2:25, I can see how that would spark attention, but a 2:38 is not attention worthy.

Did the race director ask their insurance provider if letting a 6 year old compete in a marathon as an official entrant was cool with them? I doubt it. By giving into these people the race director brought a ton of negative publicity for what is otherwise a great event and made it much harder for future race directors to put on the race.

If he gets therapy in his 20s to process the things his parents made him do as a kid, I might be willing to agree. There's a reason certain common-sense safeguards are in place, and it isn't just to protect kids from dying or getting physically injured.

So where are all of the stories of parents who shovel fast food down their kids mouths every day sentencing them to a life of obesity if not diabetes? That might hit too close to home for many of these virtue signalers I guess.

Some of this instagram stuff...it's like a comedy writer is doing it. Are we being trolled?

"Yesterday Child Protective Services (CPS) arrived at our home unannounced and interviewed our children, parents & grandmother. This is a scary process because usually children are interrogated away from parents, against their will, and their answers determine the agency's legal right to take away the kids."

The mom is visible in the reflection in the photo, sitting with them while her son is interviewed. And in either case - how would you be able to trust a CPS investigation if the parents could sit there and coach the kid through it?

And then they write "Conversation is better than judgment and division." ... although comments are turned off on all their posts about this issue.

Ben: "Child protective services just left our house after conducting a very thorough investigation that lasted..."

Kami: "Probably close to an hour"

...

Kami: "I literally was like taking a nap. Like a 45 minutes...nap..."

Ben: "It was unannounced!"

I want to know who wrote this script, it's gold.