If you watch more than 25,000 runners take off from Hopkinton today you'll notice a lot of different age groups. There will be official runners as young as 18 and even some in their 70's. The Boston Athletic Association, which organizes the Marathon, requires runners be at least 18 years old but what if teens younger than that want to take a shot at it?
According to the Metrowest Daily News, local teens as young as 13 have attempted to run the race despite warnings from health experts who say kids that young have no business running a marathon
The BAA may have that age 18 rule but there's not much, if anything ,they can do about the "bandits". Bandits are the hundreds of unregistered runners to participate every year. There are no restrictions on them
Many sports medicine experts the Daily News talked to warn that teen bodies cannot take the physical pounding a marathon can dish out. They say teen bones are not strong enough to handle the 26.2 mile distance and participating can lead to growth problems
An orthopedic specialist told the paper that teens these days are participating in more and more intense competition in running sports
So if the BAA can't stop these teens, who can?
Parents
One track coach said under no circumstances should any child under 16 attempt a marathon. He says if those kids are allowed to, that's a form of parental abuse
We tell our kids not to be couch potatoes but is running a marathon too much? Should more be done by race officials to stop teens from running as bandits or is it up to parents?
