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An alternative name for a "handicap" race?

4 watchers
May 2016
6:45pm, 24 May 2016
1,664 posts
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jacdaw
The term was used for racing long before it was used to mean disabled (a quick google suggests more than 250 years), so I don't see the harm in continuing to use it for races.
May 2016
6:48pm, 24 May 2016
796 posts
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mbln
lol at 'Chase Me' races :)
May 2016
6:53pm, 24 May 2016
17,241 posts
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fetcheveryone
Yeah, I looked up its origins too - it comes from "hand in cap". So if we can hope that the association with general human ability has been battered back into the dark ages, then it makes more sense that the word can resume an innocent association with sporting activity.
May 2016
7:00pm, 24 May 2016
12,841 posts
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jennywren
Especially as in a sporting context it's about promoting fairness rather than discrimination, as it is when applied to disabled people.
May 2016
7:02pm, 24 May 2016
17,242 posts
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fetcheveryone
Good point :-)
May 2016
7:20pm, 24 May 2016
5,533 posts
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BaronessBL
Agree with everything jennywren has said on this thread so far.
Our club has a Hilly Handicap series... I've never thought of it as meaning anything other than weighted in favour of slower runners (I'm usually one of the first to start)
May 2016
7:44pm, 24 May 2016
11,454 posts
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JK *chameleon*
As a tenpin bowler I was in a handicap league. Not once did I connect this to the pejorative usage - is it possible someone is trying to be a bit too PC?
May 2016
9:49pm, 24 May 2016
140 posts
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FergusG
Don't think there's anything wrong with the term in this context, but if anyone insisted on a new term, I'd suggest "Graded Race".
May 2016
10:04pm, 24 May 2016
8,163 posts
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Son of a Pronator Man
If anyone with a disability spoke up and said that they found the term offensive, I'd listen to that. But I think there;s a danger of looking offence where there is none. The able bodied being offended on behalf of people with disabilities
May 2016
8:46am, 25 May 2016
1,848 posts
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Wazelle
The Equaliser

About This Thread

Maintained by fetcheveryone
A Fetchie recently asked me if there was a more PC term these days for a "handicap" race i.e. the ...
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