Race Cancelled for Health & Safety Reasons
Valley Striders at the Harrogate Ringway Relay
In this article H & S stands for Health and Safety (and related legislation). So what has this to do with my world of running some may ask. Well, the reason I have been prompted to put fingers to keyboard was because of a local race that has been cancelled. The race in question was the Harrogate Ringway Relay which should have been taking place in January 2010, with many local clubs entering several teams for a very enjoyable cross country type relay event. The burden placed on the organisers just in case someone was injured ( no one has been in the many years it has taken place) was too much and so we lose a really good event.
To compound the alarm I have heard that a nearby well established 10k may not take place next year for similar reasons. I am all for the safety and welfare of runners during races but to get to the point where seasoned club administrators are being put under such pressure they are thinking of killing races , hence the life blood of the sport, is a very worrying trend. Also, please remember these people are giving their time for free, and in all cases it is an awful lot of time.
In the strange world in which we live we have races threatened with being strangled to death with red tape and then a population where obesity, diabetes, heart related disease etc is threatening to bankrupt the NHS and hundreds of thousands of people in this country alone either die or are severely disabled annually. This article is not meant to be political but just a dose of common sense. Politicians would explain this strange dichotomy with their usual flair for a myopic view of the future, so there is little point in asking them what they think, except for the small fact that they are the ones who govern our future.
If there are more people out there who would like to debate this issue let’s get a forum going and see if we cannot get a consensus we could present to the appropriate governing bodies. If we start now it’s possible we can prevent losing races when we need more healthy activity, not less.
I find there’s not much wrong with health and safety legislation – just people’s interpretation of it. If you just check the actual law (instead of believing the scaremongers) there’s not an inordinate amount to do.