Yesterday, Sept. 7, FIDAL published the new version of the protocol “Italy Back to Running – Temporary Non-Stadia Organizational Protocol” with guidelines for road and off-road competitions. And, in a nutshell, FIDAL has introduced what was already long overdue: mandatory green passes to participate in races.
The new regulations will go into effect Sept. 13 and clearly regulate what certifications will be required by organizers to allow athletes to compete.
The green pass requirement
Anyone wishing to access the competition site will need to have a green pass and, for tracking purposes, turn in the anti-CoVID19 self-declaration.
So, said simply, in order to be eligible to bid, you will need to meet one of these requirements:
- green CoVID-19 certification, which can be issued after the administration of the first dose of vaccine and is valid from the 15th day after until the scheduled date of administration of the second dose (in the case of double dose vaccine). In any case, the green certification is valid for nine months after completion of the vaccination cycle;
- recovery from Sars-CoV-2 infection (validity 6 months);
- Performance of a rapid molecular or antigenic test with a negative Sars-CoV-2 result (valid for 48 hours).
Clearly, the FIDAL document continues, “the above provisions do not apply to individuals excluded by age from the vaccination campaign and to exempt individuals on the basis of appropriate medical certification issued according to the criteria defined by circular of the Ministry of Health.”
Mode of departure
In addition to the possession of green passes, the FIDAL protocol specifies that. departures should be staggered with a maximum of 2,000 participants at a time and that “athletes will be required to wear a mask at the start and at least for the first 500 meters of the race (500m is minimum indication with respect to when athletes can remove the mask and either discard it in appropriate containers or keep it for reuse after the finish line). An adequate time interval must be interposed between the starts of each bracket to ensure spacing between athletes in different brackets.”
Needless to specify (but I do anyway) that all these standards could be further updated as the CoVID-19 emergency evolves.
My opinion
Personally, I have been hoping for the introduction of these rules for a long time, since vaccinations are now easily accessible to anyone. Every athlete will then be able to run, compete and have fun with the peace of mind of knowing that everyone around them is either vaccinated or tested negative.
From FIDAL’s point of view, it is also important that a strong signal be sent for the dissemination of the vaccine, which, as the data indisputably show, has saved many lives.
Main image credits: lzf on depositphotos.com