By David Freeze
Watches for Cross Country Runners and More!
The Salisbury Rowan Runners have been timing middle school meets in Rowan County for quite a while. And I have been around cross country meets for most of my adult life. Long called the purest of American sports, cross country draws kids who are competitive, willing to physically hurt in their training and often are still searching for their niche in sports. And they are usually good students. Some are already runners, but most are new to it as they begin running in middle school. And best-case scenario, they will remain runners for life.
This year more than I ever remember, there has been talk about letting kids wear watches while they race. What is the benefit and why does it matter? Sports watches have progressed to the point where the best can do many things, but the most important of these things should be to tabulate the elapsed time, distance and pace. In its most basic form, runners don’t need watches to run and do their best, they just put the pedal down and go as hard as they can for the distance of the race. Watches can enhance that by showing the exact pace, how far you’ve been, which lets the runner also know how much farther he/she has to race. I suspect that most young runners these days get exposed to these time, distance and pace smart watches. They are addicting because of the available data including heart rate and much more.
Erwin and China Grove Middle Schools have good teams and compete with several Davie and Iredell County schools. First meets have been completed with some of the kids wearing time, pace and distance smart watches. Coaches and athletic directors sought a ruling, watches or not?
That ruling came by way of the president of the Tri-County Conference through National Federation of State High School Associations Track and Field/Cross Country Rules. It is specific and says that yes, a runner can wear a watch but using it for certain things is prohibited. Here is the ruling statement.
. The issue is with SMART Watches. The NFHS restricts the use of electronic devices during competition under Rules 3-2-8a and 4-6-5d.
- No Communication: An athlete cannot use a smartwatch to receive live text messages, calls, or electronic coaching notes during a race or trial.
- No Unfair Assistance: A watch cannot be used to receive outside communication or data that gives the athlete an unfair competitive advantage or active pacing assistance from someone outside the race.
- Passive Data Collection: Most official interpretations allow smartwatches (like an Apple watch or Garmin) if they are used passively to collect post-race data (such as heart rate or split times). The runner must not actively use communication features or receive pacing instructions through it during the event.
It would be very difficult for a meet official to check every smartwatch screen to ensure GPS, pacing alerts, or cell data is turned off. After consulting with the timing companies that are used in our conference, they have indicated that no runner may wear a Smart Watch while participating in a Tri-County Conference Cross Country race. The meet director will check all runners at the start line to be sure this rule is followed. This rule ensures that no individual has an unfair advantage. Runners may wear a regular (old timey style) watch.
With the ruling, we will check each runner at the start line and any runners wearing a smart watch will be disqualified. Those wearing an old-time watch or those with a stopwatch feature will be OK. I doubt that this ruling will be the end-all for questions, especially in an era of rocker-panel shoes that definitely provide an advantage to those runners able to afford them. In my opinion, that is a far bigger advantage than using a smart watch in a race. Cross country is still a wonderful sport, but technology will keep trying to overcome the purity of basic running.
Our Beginning Running Class starts Tuesday, September 8.
The Run for the Word 5K and Fun Run is just ahead on September 12th in Landis. The course is fast and this race helps provide funding for Bible teachers in the South Rowan area schools. Walkers are welcome!
Look for more on the two events and other upcoming events at www.salisburyrowanrunners.org
