NZ’s Leading Sports Clinicians Call For Ban On RunIt

Executive members of Sports Medicine New Zealand (SMNZ) are appalled at the lack of safety measures and regulations that have already lead to severe injuries, and at least one fatality, attributed to new social media event ‘RunIt’.

“This activity doesn’t just endanger participants, but makes a mockery of the considerable effort and investment contact sports have made on impact-readiness training, brain injury awareness, reporting and management, all in a bid to ensure the safety and well-being of athletes” says Dr Stephen Kara, National Chair of SMNZ.

The biomechanics of RunIt collisions are comparable to severe car crashes. When two 105 kg participants (average body mass of rugby players) sprint towards each other, the impact force can exceed 16,800 Newtons. This force is over three times that of a professional boxer's punch and more than 1.5 times the force of falling from two meters. Such high impact collisions carry a significant risk of severe brain injury, fractures, and death.

“New Zealand is a proud sporting nation and those of us who work in the industry, committed to helping athletes achieve their best and stay healthy, are astounded that such an event can not only be permitted under the Health and Safety Act, but can even remotely call itself a ‘sport’.

“RunIt is not a sport. It is jousting without sticks, and whilst that may have been a sport in medieval times, it has no place in today’s sporting arenas.”

Dr Stephen Kara
National Chair
Sports Medicine New Zealand

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