Reports: Vaporfly to be banned

I am so glad they are banning (or considering banning) these for sanctioned running events. If they decide to have a new sport called bouncing then people can compete using these shoes but bouncing to new world records is what these cheat shoes do. Whatever your skill level is, these shoes give people an extreme level of efficiency that is not even close to normal running.

The thing I love about running both competing in it for myself and following competitive runners is how natural it is and that the results are solely related to our physical effort without any mechanical or external advantage other than normal cushioning of the foot.

The Nike Vaporfly completely undermines everything I love about competitive running and if it is not banned I will find a new sport to follow and be passionate about because the thing I love most about running is gone. I won't quit running myself but I will be disgusted every time I see someone BQ, finish in the top of a running event, or worst of all set a record and they are wearing Vaporflys which is unfortunately what more and more of the top runners are doing because it is the only way to compete since no one so far has the balls to ban these cheat shoes!

EVERY sport has limits on the equipment and gear that is used and running CAN NOT be the exception to this. It is not that difficult to test shoes and measure the spring force advantage and set a limit to what a shoe is allowed to provide but 4% is ridiculous and way more than what any upper limit should be. It's unfortunate that anyone is defending this and a complete slap in the face to everyone in the past who worked so hard to make competitive running the great sport it is and that so many people have come to love and enjoy.

I don't blame Nike, they are one of the most opportunistic companies in the world and have made a lot of money and people rich by being that way. It's up to IAAF, USATF, NCAA, etc. to collectively ban these types of shoes!

LoneStarXC wrote:

Good news for all of LRC’s pogo shoe wearers, per the Guardian, despite the other headlines, the VF 4% and Next% are “unlikely” to be banned, rather, they are targeting the AlphaFly.

(link)

As expected, the original headlines were sensationalist, there's no way the current Vaporflys get banned. It's too late for that, the cat is already out of the bag, and I don't think they want to put race directors in a situation where they have to enforce a ban on a shoe that's widely available and used by most sub elites.

great post, Vonstridenmaster, I agree completely. The most maddening thing about the pogo-shoe, cheaterfly apologists is their inability to think things through to their logical conclusion.

In their rush not to "limit innovation" they fail to draw a line that would limit contraptions like this:

https://www.wish.com/product/58d0f2a77257306e4e623d93?hide_login_modal=true&from_ad=goog_shopping&_display_country_code=US&_force_currency_code=USD&pid=googleadwords_int&c=%7BcampaignId%7D&ad_cid=58d0f2a77257306e4e623d93&ad_cc=US&ad_curr=USD&ad_price=139.00&campaign_id=7203534630&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIk-rC2pOH5wIVBtlkCh0B9AmMEAQYASABEgKtKfD_BwE

In all cheaterfly threads I respond to, I ask the same question: If you don't have the good sense to see that cheaterflys are a bastardization of our sport, WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE--OR DO YOU DRAW A LINE AT ALL? If you don't draw any line, then let the racers strap pistorious-blades to the bottom of their able-bodied limbs and call it a night. 30 second 400m races and 1:30 marathons here we come! Woohoo, don't stifle innovation!!

Shut up nerd.

No one is even considering banning the Vapes. If you have a problem with shoes being used in running then stop wearing them or maybe go back to wearing cowboy boots or sandals.....ALL running shoes give you too much of an advantage with their cushion and bounce.

Plenty of time to run in a different shoe for trials and this Pandora's Box had to be closed before it was too late. It was a disaster to potentially sweep all the old records out by inferior athletes and there would be no end to it, because technological advancement is unlimited. The Spyra shoes got C level Kenyans to 26s at a Detroit 10k about a decade and a half back. Nike's shoes lasted this long only because they are the biggest, baddest company in track and field. They absolutely must scrub the books of all records set with this sort of technology.

this is stupid. it's going to damage the world of running. imagine how many people are gonna quit running because they're forced to switch back to their nike zoom streak and then realize how slow they are and then quit. it also limits our freedom to create new technologies. it also makes no sense. they had a vague ass definition of what isn't allowed in a running shoe and shouldn't stick their noses in shoe companies businesses now that they've already spent millions of dollars on them. also, can anybody tell me how the vaporfly is a spring, but any shoe with cushioning isn't? LITERALLY EVERY SHOE THAT HAS CUSHIONING IS A SPRING.

So were litterally being banned from a Certain Shoe, next it will be clothing!

I'm not worried about someone running a huge marathon WR or even PR in those because they weigh 7 pounds each. Sure, you can hop real high. Try doing that for 26.2 miles with an extra 7 pounds on each leg and tell us how that goes.

Why do people keep saying "but...cycling" and "but...swimming"? Distance running has been just fine for centuries without limiting what people wear on their feet. It's about time we got those records from the EPO era off the books anyways.

I want the shoes to be banned and then see Kipchoge beat his own current WR with racing flats. It would be funny to watch all the cheaterfly parrots' heads explode.

Breaking Paula Radcliffe’s bs record was the final straw. By banning the Vaporflys, Paula gets her asterisk back. Lord Coe will stop at nothing to artificially inflate the accomplishments of British athletes.

badger barrier leaper wrote:

the performance determinate between 2 equally talented runners shouldn't be determined by which one is willing to spend $350 on shoes

remember when Oscar Pistorius was trying to compete in the Olympics because the advantage the blades gave him

Well that’s a dumb post, take three equally runners. Says we are going to run a 1 mile race. Runner 1 puts on a pair of Nike streaks because they are £60, runner two puts on asics cumulus as they are £90 and runner three outs on £120 brooks Glycerin.

You think they would cross the line at the same time? All things being equal other than shoe weigh and shoe efficiency I would hazard a guess the cheapest shoe would win.

This is the point,different shoes have always had different efficiency and the fact that everyone is buying a single shoes which is comfortable, light and efficient is good for the running. Both pros and non pro have easy access, the improvement in non pro is don’t to the fact they are now running in shoes that don’t impact their marathon pace because they are not too beat up.

Is £250 to expensive for a pair of shoes, of course, Save up your pennies and prioritise your spending if running is important.

Strange post, I don’t like these shoes because I think the efficiency is too much and therefore they should be banned, yet believe and quote 4%? The studies said an average on 4% efficiency improvement over the Adidas adios 2 (I believe) at marathon pace. The range for runners was 1-9% as it depended on their form.

If you are worried about only a 4% efficiency increase, I challenge you to measure yourself barefoot running and then using each pair of shoes you own or race in (ignore weight changes) and measure the efficiency gains. You may find some surprising results and question your statement above.

Ha ha, if you could wear that springs for marathon and get close to 2 hours I bet you could run a sub 2 hours in any shoe!

i've run almost the same times (within 15 secs) in Fly Flyknit vs VF %4

9% improvement? What are you smoking?

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

how they’ll handle records set on the marathon and track with the technology

No chance of any track records with this "tech." They've already tried this nonsense with long and/or bent spike plates, it made no difference, though some idiots probably thought it did.

Some runners showed 9 percent improvement in efficiency in the studies conducted

Regarding this whole Vaporfly situation there are two clearly distinct and polarized groups – one that wants them to be banned and the second that doesn't want them to happen. It seems however that those who wants them to be banned are mostly people who are beyond their running prime or those who are in their prime but are sponsored by other shoe brands or slower hobby joggers that for some reason rant about it. Basically all those who insist on banning are those who for some reason can't use the shoes now to run fast times.