Forums >General Running>High school bans road running
Feeling the growl again
Link.
I never would have taken up running if I'd been first exposed in such an environment.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
That stinks. Our town just had a lot of buzz as we had a XC girl clipped (and seriously injured) by a pickup truck's side mirror - straight on - during practice on the road behind the school.
Hope they don't follow Radford's lead.
Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and roguesWe're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes
Good Bad & The Monkey
How can a school control where its students run on their own time?
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
Interval Junkie --Nobby
Unfortunately, our society has become risk-phobic. Anything that can be done to mitigate some risk to injury not only should be done, it MUST be done. There seems to be no way to resist these measures. Because eventually, that one in a billion chance of something happening _will_ happen, and whoever accepted the risk will be put in the legal electric chair.
We need some fortitude in this country.
Next thing you know parents will be held liable for negligence for letting their 16yo run down Main Street in violation of "scholastic recommendations" like this.
2021 Goals: 50mpw 'cause there's nothing else to do
Cross country practice is not considered their own time.
Runners run
Joggaholic
It sounds like it only affect the XC team members? So if any kids just like running for fun then they shouldn't join the school team?
MTA: After seeing Mike's post it makes more sense now, so they're banning it only during official practice sessions
If their are militant enough, they could claim it is a violation of the code of conduct they sign to participate, which does talk about behavior off campus.
I give the community credit, they are organized. But local politics are playing out at their best, complete with refusal to move the board meeting to a bigger room in order to limit the number of opposing community members who can attend.
Note that we're not just talking about running on the roads here -- they can't even use sidewalks. In the link above, one of the athletes describes some of the trail they are supposed to use as being dangerously un-runnable.
old woman w/hobby
Yes, this.
Quite a few years ago two kids on one of the local high school golf teams here were killed in a car wreck
on the way to an after school tournament. I think most of the schools in the area then stopped allowing
kids to drive to after school games / events.
steph
I misunderstood. I thought it was banning XC runners from running on road ever.
Yes, this. Quite a few years ago two kids on one of the local high school golf teams here were killed in a car wreck on the way to an after school tournament. I think most of the schools in the area then stopped allowing kids to drive to after school games / events.
I was involved in a car wreck returning to the school from XC practice in a private vehicle.
I'm aware of far more kids involved in car wrecks simply driving to/from school; I'm not sure why they are considered differently, but not driving private vehicles to after-school events is pretty standard in my experience.
stadjak's post more or less nailed it...although in this particular case there are hints that this rule is just a way to justify spend on improving the course/trails.
Since the board has thus far not published the new rule (apparently not following the law), even the parents lack real clarity.
I hope the trails are smoother than the trails I find because I trip, fall, and have hurt myself a lot more running on trails than on roads. I agree with the students though that the worst part is really not getting to explore and keep it exciting. Running the same trail course every day for practice for all types of workouts sounds like it takes a lot of the fun and freedom out of it. That's a shame.
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True.
Funky Kicks 2019
I went to a small, rural high school. We didn't have a cross country team, but the distance runners on the track team often ran on the road. We had a teacher run with us, he wasn't an official coach (actually he was my dad, and my Spanish teacher, and also my class advisor...you can't make this shit up, I tell ya) but he was a decent runner and kept us girls relatively safe at intersections and made sure we all made it back to the school. I don't see why they can't find a staff member with a decent level of fitness to tag along. They could even do an escort by bicycle, if it came to that. You can't prevent all accidents, no matter what you do. Banning road running during practice sends a message that the adults don't trust the kids to be smart, and that the world is a terrifyingly dangerous place.
Leah, mother of dogs
One day at a time
My son's team had to run inside the high school when the roads were too icy. More kids got hurt slipping in the hallway than ever got injured on the roads. They also had adventures such as swimming across rivers. I think they gave their coach a fair number of gray hairs!