Last week, a runner from Summit High School in Bend, Oregon was pushing herself hard as she ran a school record time in the 800.
As she neared the finish line & pushed herself to the brink, she collapsed a few meters short.
That runner, Maggie Williams, tells The Bend Bulletin newspaper “I was pushing so hard and everything went blurry and I just fell. But luckily I fell at the right spot and crossed the line with my head.”
Her coach David Turnbull blames it on the facemasks that all track athletes in the state are required to wear when racing.
Coach Turnbull tells the newspaper:
“I am concerned with the mask rule. This is what I am worried about and I said this at the beginning of the season. You get a kid running the 800 with a mask on, it is actually dangerous. They don’t get the oxygen that they need. This rule needs to change.”
The Oregonian’s John Canzano points out that Oregon is the only state that requires masks for high school distance runners in track and cross country.
“…state high school coaches will tell you they’re seeing gasping, oxygen-depleted runners on a far more frequent basis this season…
“I’ve been doing this for 31 years, I’ve never seen anybody basically lose consciousness,” Turnbull said. “I’ve never seen that in the way it happened with Maggie.”
Turnbull was so moved he wrote a letter to the OSAA, the state’s governing body on high school sports, on Friday morning. He imploring them to lobby officials to revisit the mask mandate for runners. He’s not alone. I’ve heard from a half dozen long-time high school coaches this week who are puzzled by the bureaucratic stance taken by our state."
The mandate is not about science, it’s about control.