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

You did the right thing, although you could have asked the kid if it was okay that you cut in front of him. Most races that i've run do tell the slower runners, strollers, etc.. to get toward the back so they don't get trampled.

You were in the right (assuming you did in fact finish ahead of that kid). That doesn't mean that you get a free pass, because some people are just nut jobs when it comes to their children especially, but you didn't do anything wrong.

I've seen a few races where there is a group of kids up on the starting line, and I generally ignore them or slide past them. At my local Turkey Trot this year I even started a row or two back, and I happened to not find it detrimental in the slightest (I ran crazy slow, even for me).

Aren't parents wonderful? There is no avoiding parental idiocy in youth sports, even when everything is laid out clearly in advance. Some are just blinded by self-interest.

Maybe next time just go directly to the starter/race official and request that an announcement is made, for his own liability purposes.

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.

dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd wrote:

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.

Lining up based on expected time is standard procedure. A person isn't being a busybody by expecting competitors to observe basic etiquette.

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.

The "safety thing" isn't a myth. I recently raced a 5k in which an entire (10-12) group of tween girls lined up front row on the starting line. The race director told their guardian that it was dangerous and he should move them back a few rows. The guardian basically told the race director he was being stupid. The gun went off and 50% of the tweens fell within the first 100 meters and it was a mess. Two of these girls sprinted to the front and proceeded to continuously cut off the lead guy for about 100 meters before they immediately stopped in front of him and started walking. It was a mess and lots of the girls were bruised and scraped.

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.

Judgemental jerk alert!

ladyrunnerpants wrote:

It was a mess and lots of the girls were bruised and scraped.

They aren't china dolls, you know. They can handle it.

The best place for those kids is right at the front of most small races. They all sprint out at a pace faster than I could ever imagine running anyway. I just make sure I run to the side when I pass them after about 200 meters.

Well then maybe they shouldn't have had total meltdowns when they fell. Wailing and crying and being carried to the medical tent.

only run races with proper corals.

Like the Great Barrier Reef Invitational.

You were right. Anyone not doing strides before the race shouldn't be at the front of the starting line.

ladyrunnerpants wrote:

Well then maybe they shouldn't have had total meltdowns when they fell. Wailing and crying and being carried to the medical tent.

You must be REALLY slow to have witnessed that entire scene unfold in such detail.

T. Miller wrote:

You were right. Anyone not doing strides before the race shouldn't be at the front of the starting line.

^This. I might also add that anyone not wearing short shorts shouldn't be toeing the line, either.

ladyrunnerpants wrote:

Well then maybe they shouldn't have had total meltdowns when they fell. Wailing and crying and being carried to the medical tent.

You tell the story like you were an omnipresent observer floating over the race.

How do you know they were wailing and crying about being carried to the medical tent?

boo hoo hoo wrote:

ladyrunnerpants wrote:

Well then maybe they shouldn't have had total meltdowns when they fell. Wailing and crying and being carried to the medical tent.

You must be REALLY slow to have witnessed that entire scene unfold in such detail.

Possibly this person is slow, but also has the courtesy and common sense to line up where they belong in a race. I don't recall them saying they were fast. I am slow - in a 5k my teenage son and his friends are toeing the line (as they should) and I am lined up in the back half of the pack, where I belong. But I also have said something about little kids lining up in front being inconsiderate/risky.

so the "lead guy" was drafting behind a couple of 12 yr old girls? Um........ok, ssssure he was..

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.