Yesterday the Parliament passed the Running Regulator Act, 2012. The Sports Minister said that as more than a Million people had taken to running in Mumbai city alone, and about 10 Million Indians are running all over India, there was a need to regulate the Running Movement.

The Regulator will be headed by Mr. Y V Charumukh, ex Chief Justice of India, and the Vice-Chairman will be Mr. Ramakrishnan, ex Sebi chief. The national parties will nominate 2 members each – Mr. L K Advani and Mr. Gadkari have been nominated by the BJP and the Congress nominees are Mr. Suresh Kalmadi and Mr. Sharad Pawar.

The age limit has been set as 70 years as on the date of selection. (In case you are wondering, this is the lower age limit)

The authority will have the powers to regulate:

Who can be called a runner: these days we find that people who trot, jog, walk, crawl, roll, are all called runners. The authority will set the minimum number of steps that a person has to take to be called a runner. This will also hopefully clear the ambiguity of what is running.

Running timings: Some people run twice a day and some people train once a day. This is very unfair on the people who cannot train twice. The regulator is likely to put a cap on how much a person can train.

Running comparisons: Websites comparing runners, their timings, etc. will be banned. This is necessary because the new comers and the others who are not able to improve should not feel bad. After all running is not about winning, it is about the participation, right?

Running equipment: We have found that some good runners use high end shoes, gels, Gatorade, etc. This is not fair on the poor runners who cannot afford all this.

…to be continued …….