A large crowd packed Trust Stadium for the Runit event last night. Video / Mike Scott / Benjamin Plummer
The final of a controversial “run it straight” event offering $200,000 to the winner has been shifted from Auckland to the Middle East amid calls for it to be banned.
Australian-based Runit Championship League held two trial events at Trusts Arena lastmonth, with the winners taking home $20,000 cash prizes. But the West Auckland venue pulled out of hosting the final, citing safety concerns.
Now, the organisation has announced the final will be held in Dubai this month, with the date yet to be confirmed.
The change in destination comes as multiple companies listed as “partners” have been removed from the organisation’s website. The high-profile is sports retailer Foot Locker.
Foot Locker said its involvement with “run it straight” organised and officiated events had been limited, and it had never been a sponsor in any official capacity. It had been providing Runit with gear and gift cards for prizes.
Runit Championship League has previously expressed interest in going global, earlier advertising shows in America, Saudi Arabia and the UK later this year. These destinations have also been removed from its website.
Former NRL star and England international George Burgess, who has been working with the organisation, confirmed the event had been moved from Auckland to the Middle East.
He said the organisers would “of course” be paying for the eight finalists’ flights to Dubai.
Australian-based Runit Championship League held two trial events at Trusts Arena last month, with the winners taking home $20,000 cash prizes. Photo / Mike Scott
Auckland Council told the Herald earlier this week it had not received any request from the organisation to book council-owned or managed sites.
“Due to the health and safety concerns associated with these events, it is highly unlikely an event of this nature would have met the council’s guidelines for approval if they were to follow the correct process.”
Leading doctors have called for the sport to be banned because of safety concerns. The Government has sought advice on what powers and actions can be taken against it after the death of a teenager last month who was participating in a copycat event.
Runit Championship League – which has amassed about 82 million views on social media since its inception earlier this year – has pushed forward with the final, offering a $200,000 cash prize for the winner, $50,000 for second place and $25,000 for third.
“Run it straight” has been touted as the world’s fiercest new combat sport. It involves a runner and a tackler running full speed at each other on a 20m x 4m “battlefield” designed for “maximum action and non-stop intensity”.
“Victory belongs to the one who dominates the collision.”
At the second Auckland trial, three of the eight competitors were forced to retire with injuries. Two showed signs of a concussion. Photo / Mike Scott
The sport has exploded on social media in recent months, gaining a mass following. Runit Championship League is a leading organiser and has received support from several high-profile athletes since its inception.
Collisions ‘comparable to severe car crashes’
Professor Patria Hume, sports scientist and injury prevention expert at Auckland University of Technology, said earlier that Satterthwaite’s death was preventable.
“I also said [previously] it unfortunately takes a death to make people take notice and to stop these high-injury-risk activities.”
She said the collisions in “run it straight” were more than five times the force of a typical rugby tackle.
“People are not trying to evade each other, but are purposefully hitting each other as hard as they can.”
Sports Medicine New Zealand national chairman Dr Stephen Kara said the biomechanics of the sport’s collisions were “comparable to severe car crashes”.
“When two 105kg participants – the average body mass of rugby players – sprint towards each other, the impact force can exceed 16,800 newtons. This force is over three times that of a professional boxer’s punch and more than 1.5 times the force of falling from 2m.”
He said such high-impact collisions carried a significant risk of severe brain injury, fractures and death.
“This activity doesn’t just endanger participants, but makes a mockery of the considerable effort and investment contact sports have made on impact-readiness training, brain injury awareness, reporting and management, all in a bid to ensure the safety and wellbeing of athletes.
“[It] is not a sport. It is jousting without sticks and, whilst that may have been a sport in medieval times, it has no place in today’s sporting arenas.”
Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers sport and breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.
