A female runner participating in the Spen 20 Road Race yesterday, organised by the running club Spenborough & District A.C., was pulled out at 1.5 miles for running too slowly.

Netty Edwards, an avid runner who has experience at both marathon and ultra distances, was running at a pace of 12 minutes per mile when she was pulled out of the race. If Netty had continued at this pace, she would have finished the race in four hours.

Spenborough & District A.C. did not specify a finish cut-off time for the race in its term and conditions, yet upon being pulled out of the race, a marshal apparently told Netty that the race is ‘not for people like you.’

Netty took to social media to publicise this within the Spen 20 Road Race open Facebook group. In response to another post within the group, written by a different user expressing her outrage at this event, Kevin Ogden, vice chairman of Spenborough & District A.C., responded that it was ‘not disgusting’ as Netty was running at ‘basically walking pace’. He told the user: ‘If you are struggling at 1/12 miles what would you be like after 15 miles; the race referee’s decision is final so just accept it and stop whinging.’

Kevin also told the outraged user, Fanny Dolittle, that Netty was fully informed that she could start the race an hour earlier, giving her a better chance of finishing at a time similar to the other runners. On the same thread, Kevin then proceeded to publicly bully the user for her comments through use of expletives. It is understood that Netty chose not to take the organisers up on the opportunity to start the race earlier.

The story has gone viral on social media. To join in the conversation comment below with your views on the story or tweet us @Womensrunninguk with the hashtag #spen20.

Anthem has tried to contact Spenborough and District A.C. but has not received a reply.