Is this child abuse? Dad makes 12 year old daughter run marathons

I was a technical consultant for the NYRR for many decades. And for many of those years, the famed race director Fred Lebow received hundreds of requests for kids to run the marathon. Fred told me he refused all the request but would have allowed any of them to run if the request actually came from the kid and not their parent.

I am old enough to know that before coming to conclusion, you have to ask the other side, but even this side is not logical. In the results of this race both sisters have identical time on miles 3 and 7. Younger sister is trailing 9 seconds on mile 9.5. Then she skips timing mats on miles 19 and 25 and finishes 20 minutes ahead of her older sister. This looks as if someone drove a YOUNGER sister to finish, and her pace for this part is one minute faster then for the first 9.5 miles. So, she WASN'T ALONE on mile 19 unless we believe that she called taxi on her own. You wrote this suggesting that she was distressed because somebody forced her to run. I have two daughters of this age who fight around totally irrelevant things and sometimes cry. What if younger sister was in distress because her older sister didn't wait for her? Maybe parent told her if she can't keep the pace to call them and quit. Could "my sister is running and parents forced me to quit" be the reason for sobbing? Maybe she had a phone and didn't need yours. I never let my children running out of sight without a phone and tracker.

If you are sure it was the older sister, it is possible they swapped bibs, can't say without pictures. Too many unknowns to accuse someone of abuse. Unless they have YouTube vlog, of course.

You are quoting doctor from 1980. when marathon race for women was not on Olympic program as they were considered too fragile to run more then 800 m. Here we have thousand of children who finished marathons with all the 'soft and tender' bones intact but you rather believe this doctor?

This 'period' BS is repeated over and over but name one female marathon runner who didn't get period. This depends on body fat % and can happen completely unrelated to marathon or any sport.

Finally, nobody ever was "world class" at 12. You have to run 40 minutes faster to be "world class" and no amount of "forcing" has ever changed this.

When I was 12 (early 70s) a track teammate and I (both JrH half milers ran the March of Dimes 20 miler. Our track coach said that, if we won, one of us could win a ten speed Continental bicycle. That was too good to pass up considering it was a “Walkathon”.

I cramped horribly at mile 17 and my teammate ended up finishing 1st I was 2nd. The only good news was that the bicycle went to the person who raised the most money for March of Dimes not the winner - together we raised $0.

I missed text 4 days of school because I was so sore I couldn’t get out of bed. Was it child abuse back then…no, I turned out fine.

Is it child abuse today? To the pearl clutchers of today - absolutely, the parents should be locked up and the child remanded to foster care. For the rest of us…whatever.

Haile Geb ran a marathon as a pre-teen.

Reinhardt Harrison ran a half marathon age-group WR as a 10 yr old. Ran many competitive track races as pre-teen.

Alex Ostberg ran a hard half marathon as a pre-teen.

Jakob ran over 50mpw as a pre-teen while being physically and mentally abused by his dad.

Nico Young has been quoted as saying he's been running since 6 years old. All 3 brothers ran seriously as early as 6th grade and probably earlier. Sahlmans in the same boat.

All run or ran at elite levels into adulthood with no burnout. It's nonsense that kids "should only do lateral sports" and not pick up competitive distance running until HS. As long as they have a supportive, positive family and coaching environment (preferably with peers) they'll be fine. The question is if this girl is getting that. Asian dads are notoriously harsh on their kids. That is from my own experience having Asian friends growing up...so we don't know. Asian culture breeds a-hole dads. True story.

I'd argue no marathons at that age not because it's harmful but its much better to build speed and form in the formative years than a lot of slow, sloggy miles and you can always run marathons into your 40s...why waste precious fast twitch fibers at 12? Peter Coe would agree.

As far as Hadley, she and her parents were constantly harassed by others about being too young...her dad being abusive..etc...that was part of the reason she quit.

Hey! I just wanted to share my knowledge about this, because it's clear you don't know any part of the story ! :))

So, funny enough, it just so happens that I know this girl, and she has told me about her M2B experience. She told me what a wonderful experience this was for her, and how proud she was of her 3:52:55 in the full marathon. Yes, she told me how difficult it was for her, and she actually found it funny that several people were coming up to her, asking if she was okay. She said that at the time she felt very tired, so she was grateful for people who were caring about her. But she also made great memories, with different pacers who helped her to the end, and the wonderful food and time she spent with her family after the race.

It's actually quite funny because she always gets mistaken for someone younger because of her looks all the time, so I get why you felt worried. But she did in fact finish the marathon and she did not get driven to the end just to receive her medal...It is a bit sad that you automatically assumed you were faster than this girl and stated that it was "impossible because I passed her and never saw her pass me in return." Ever consider the chance, even the slightest possibility that you were just way to focused on yourself during the race, that you didn't notice the things happening around you? IDK just think about it...I mean why are you so caught up about what happened 2 years ago...?...

Also have you seen her LA Marathon video!? She got a whopping 3:29:53!! That's amazing if you ask me...and like M2B, she actually finished the race. She wasn't driven to the end to receive her medal...maybe not be so focused on others and deem it impossible for little girls to be faster than you because your jealous...

It is clear from my interactions with her and her family that she chooses to run, and so does her sister. They choose to do these amazing things and spread positivity throughout the running community! Let's stop spreading false things that we don't know!!! :))

Hey! I just wanted to share my knowledge about this, because it's clear you don't know any part of the story ! :))

So, funny enough, it just so happens that I know this girl, and she has told me about her M2B experience. She told me what a wonderful experience this was for her, and how proud she was of her 3:52:55 in the full marathon. Yes, she told me how difficult it was for her, and she actually found it funny that several people were coming up to her, asking if she was okay. She said that at the time she felt very tired, so she was grateful for people who were caring about her. But she also made great memories, with different pacers who helped her to the end, and the wonderful food and time she spent with her family after the race.

It's actually quite funny because she always gets mistaken for someone younger because of her looks all the time, so I get why you felt worried. But she did in fact finish the marathon and she did not get driven to the end just to receive her medal...It is a bit sad that you automatically assumed you were faster than this girl and stated that it was "impossible because I passed her and never saw her pass me in return." Ever consider the chance, even the slightest possibility that you were just way to focused on yourself during the race, that you didn't notice the things happening around you? IDK just think about it...I mean why are you so caught up about what happened 2 years ago...?...

Also have you seen her LA Marathon video!? She got a whopping 3:29:53!! That's amazing if you ask me...and like M2B, she actually finished the race. She wasn't driven to the end to receive her medal...maybe not be so focused on others and deem it impossible for little girls to be faster than you because your jealous...

It is clear from my interactions with her and her family that she chooses to run, and so does her sister. They choose to do these amazing things and spread positivity throughout the running community! Let's stop spreading false things that we don't know!!! :))

In his latest video, his children look so empty. His son is expressionless, and you can tell he is just saying what his dad told him to say. This is sad.

Haha if you watch the video on mobile and scrub it forward, it looks like they’re waddling

Well they only ran 3:02 today at the OC marathon after going out at a unrealistic 2:50 pace.

I follow the family on IG. The Dad/coach is very good with coaching her and has great tips I have used myself. Seems like a genuinely supportive dad. She seems to like it and want to do big things and runs maybe 1-2 hours a day. My kid's rec soccer practice is about that amount of time. Better than another 2 hours doom scrolling. Not everything is ABUSE.

Having watched some of the videos in the past 100% abuse going on. #1 they do not eat enough! Quite disturbing really.

Running marathons serves no purpose for kids, none whatsoever. Want to develop them into better runners long term? Focus on shorter distances, eg mile, 2 mile 5K. Jumping straight to the marathon is cruel and pointless.

People who ask the question "what makes this different from people who make their kid play soccer or do gymnastics?"

The difference is that playing soccer and gymnastics is deemed normal as kids activities, and thus there's a wide population base of participation. Thus it takes real talent to stand out. .

This dad takes advantage of the fact that there's a lot less participation amongst young kids in marathon, and thus it doesn't take top talent to stand out. This is a devious way of the dad to gain fame

Distance running talent is more or less translatible across distances. You can’t be a good marathoner without running a decent 5k. Which means letting your kids racing 5k will more or less tell if he/she has Olympic level talent for marathon.

Instead, this dad trys to convince everyone that his daughter has Olympic level talent by running a distance that's obscure among kids her age, and thus easier to stand out.

That's the problematic part of the story.

Does his daughter have Olympic level talent? Let her race 5k and see how she fairs amongst her peers would be much more straightforward, and honest too.

If marathon were an obscure Olympic sport, or at least obscure for women, that it would be a smart move by the dad. Unfortunately that's not the case, which makes this a sad story, since the dad is only setting up his daughter for failure. I tend to think all this stunt is just because of his obsession with marathon as a hobby jogger, and an unhealthy appetite for fame.

Someone explain to me how a young female at this age can run this much and at these solid paces and not get injured?

To people who said "but the girl loves running marathon"

No she didn't love running marathon.

Her dad had taught her the mid-age crisis crowds' devious way to illusion of achievement - winning by creation of finely divided subcategories, by elimination of competition by creating obstacles for participation, etc.

People claim they won when they actually "won" age group. They even go as far as claiming to have been invited to "the world championship" when it's actually the Abbott age group thing that every hobby jogger seemed to be invited to pay a chunk of money to run.

How can a 12 year old know to run a sub-3 marathon on one of the down hill races if her hobby jogger dad didn't teach her?