Should Caleb Westfall be banned from all future Honolulu Marathons?
Should Caleb Westfall be banned from future Honolulu Marathons?
Big Island resident Caleb Westfall was told several times that he would be arrested if he attempted to do the Honolulu Marathon on stilts, race officials told the Big Dog.
Race President, Jim Barahal, did not want him in the race with the stilts. Westfall was advised several times before the race that the stilts could pose a danger to other runners in a crowded field like the Honolulu marathon.
Westfall defied race officials and came in anyway. He got himself on KITV’s morning show because the station was doing live coverage from the course. When KITV asked Honolulu race officials his name they would not give it to the television station because they did not want to help Westfall in his self promoting publicity stunt.
Look at the end of this video from the KITV live program and you will see Westfall being interviewed on the course. He complained that the Honolulu Marathon would not let him race with stilts so he jumped in at mile 5.
The Honolulu Marathon is now considering banning Westfall from future races.
The Big Dog would like to know if you agree with the ban because I would also not allow stilts to be used in the Hilo Marathon, for safety reasons. The safety of runners should always come first!
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1). Safety First – Ban the stilts
2). It is a Marathon, not a circus act
3). Costumes are cute and only affect the individuals safety, stilts can hurt everyone 10 feet around the person using them.
4). If you want to use stilts, put on your own “Stilts race”
5). I ran my first 5k in 1991 in Chicago. A group of “Rollerbladers” jumped in (illegally) and raced amongst the hundreds of runners. One of them accidentally took out a top female runners and broke her hip. Rollerblades are also banned.
Just my opinions.
Joe Wedemann
Comment by Joey | December 12, 2011 |
Do your homework before you talk about Me I’m inspiring people with difficult challenges if I can do it then maybe they can what are doing to be a hero see around town joe wedeman
Comment by Caleb Westfall | February 5, 2012 |
OH Joe, I couldn’t agree with you more.
Comment by Jessica Kirkwood | December 12, 2011 |
Lets not waste our time worrying about how Caleb runs the Marathon, and worry more about how to get more people out exercising. I have seen Caleb at many races on the Big Island he is a positive role model to his son and other athletes.
Comment by Sam Brown | February 6, 2012 |
I agree, Caleb is a nice guy and promotes fitness. But when the race director says you cannot use stilts in a race you should follow the rules. I wouldn’t want anyone in my races they do whatever they want to do. And no STILTS are allowed in the Big Island Marathon as it is not safe for the other people running the race and not covered by our insurance policy.
This whole thing is not about health and fitness – it is about following the rules set by those that organize races.
Besides it was the Honolulu Marathon race director that contated me about whether or not they should ban Caleb from future races.
Comment by waynejoseph | February 6, 2012 |
Good point. I guess each race is different and each race official should be able to decide how the race is run.
Comment by Sam Brown | February 6, 2012
I dont understand how Caleb can say he is a role model for inspiring people with difficult challenges..Does he have a handicap? Am I missing something? Why would he inspire others?? Ridiculous reasoning..His is twisted and just looking for his own self promoting gimicks..Get real Caleb!
Comment by Tom | February 6, 2012 |
Didn’t know you had to be disabled to be inspiring. There are many people around the world who have disabilities and get held back for one reason or another. Caleb is showing these people that they can do things despite a disability, even if caleb does not have one. Did your your parents, family or teachers inspire you in any way? If so, did they have disabilities. You must be a person who just does not like Caleb.
Comment by Nate | February 8, 2012 |
I am done posting comments concerning Caleb Westfall.
The issue here is not about his intent or whether he is a good person or a bad person.
The issue is about insurance liability!
Race directors need to carry hefty liability coverages through an insurance company, usually the Road Road Club of America or the USATF.
Both insurance companies do not allow, skate boards, skates, stilts………for a race director to ignore the rules of the insurance contract would mean invalidating the entire insurance policy.
Caleb was told that he could not use stilts at the Honolulu Marathon and decided to jump into the race anyway.
Now Honolulu is considering to ban him from all future races.
Caleb should follow the rules of the race, or make his own race and do whatever you want!
Comment by waynejoseph | February 8, 2012 |
The basic thing is it’s up the race director. The race director has the authority to make the rules. However I know Caleb has run the Kona marathon or big island one before, with no challenges. Why now are they banning him from doing it? Is Honolulu so uptight because he snuck in and now want to get him banned across the islands.
How about the few people I saw on the Honolulu Marathon course that were on make shift crutches so they can complete the race. They should have been pulled to. It’s got to be fair across the board. What if someone tripped over a guys crutch.
Comment by Nate | February 8, 2012 |
I’m getting pretty disgusted with this controvery. Honolulu Marathon race director told him he could NOT wear stilts in the race. Caleb did it anyway.
Should he be banned? I would ban him in a heart beat. I might have even had him arrested if he tried this stunt at one of my event. Do Not come to one of my races and then refuse to follow the rules.
Guys and gals on crutches need to be using them. Why didn’t Caleb use a crutch too? Or can’t you see the obvious difference??? Don’t know why I am wasting so much time and energy on this??????? I must be an idiot.
Comment by waynejoseph | February 8, 2012 |