Adjudication committee statement July 2022

After the final round of the 2022 season at Wistow on 5/7/22, the league’s adjudication committee was asked to investigate a complaint that a runner had been paced by a cyclist during the race.

The league abides by UK Athletics rules which state that runners may not be paced ‘by persons not participating in the same race’ (Rule 6.3.1). This rule covers pacing by runners, cyclists and those using other vehicles.

The adjudication committee initially ruled the incident to have been illegal pacing and therefore decided that the runner’s result should be expunged.

However, having considered an appeal by those involved, the committee decided to overturn its initial decision and has issued the following statement. 

“Our initial decision was made on the information that was presented to us at the time. However, following a submission of further information from all parties involved we on this occasion feel that to disqualify the runner from the race would be unjust.

“The cyclist made a gross judgment error and did not realise that what was intended to be harmless encouragement would be perceived to other runners as pacing another runner. 

“The cyclist is issued with a warning and any reoccurrence of an incident such as this will be met with far more serious sanctions. 

“The runner is also to be mindful in future of any non-participants, who are there to support them. Such support should be given in a manner that does not cause other participants to question their actions.

“We hope this decision brings the matter to a satisfactory close.”