Two Ohio parents are facing backlash after it was revealed they allowed their 6-year-old son to complete a full marathon.
Kami and Ben Crawford entered their son, Rainier, into Cincinnati’s annual Flying Pig Marathon alongside his parents and older siblings.
Video posted to the family’s YouTube channel shows Rainier in a previous race, which was a half-marathon. At times he ran, and sometimes he walked.
In Sunday’s race, Rainier finished the 26.2-mile course in 8 hours and 36 minutes. Now Rainier’s parents are catching heat on social media.
“Everything about this is wrong!” one tweet said.
“Little kids are not physically developed to handle the physical demands of the marathon,” another commenter said.
But others have been supportive, with one person writing, “Teaching [children] endurance and overcoming difficulties is great!”
Dr. Jordan Metzl, who specializes in sports medicine, tells Inside Edition, “I love the idea of getting your kids active. But in general we don’t recommend marathon distance running for kids really under the age of 18.”
The Crawfords spoke to Inside Edition about the criticism.
“If he wants to stop or if I think his body, it’s too much for him, then absolutely we would stop and make sure he was OK,” Kami Crawford said.
“I’m not saying everyone should do this, but this is just what we did and something we really enjoyed and thought it was healthy for our family,” Ben Crawford said.
The family also says they didn’t see any signs of heat exhaustion or dehydration.
In the wake of the controversy, the marathon organizer says that letting the youngster take part “was not the best course of action” and that they will make sure all runners are over 18 in future races.
