The Bermuda National Athletic Association has issued a strong warning to charities and other organisations not to schedule road races without first being sanctioned by the sport’s governing body.

The issue became a concern for the BNAA last year after the Running of the Bulls 5K race clashed with the Ed Sherlock race. Now Donna Watson, the president of the BNAA, wants charities and other groups to know that they cannot just schedule a road race without first contacting the association.

“You cannot just wake up and decide you want to put on a race,” Watson said. “This would cause our road race calendar to be totally out of control. That does not happen in any other sport.

“We, the BNAA, understand that the economy is not in a good space but charities need to realise that they cannot just put on road races as they please.

“Any road race has to come through the BNAA, as the governing body, to be sanctioned.”

Each year the BNAA posts an event calender for the season, covering all road running and track events sanctioned by the association.

“We are seeing races pop up that are not on our official calendar and they are being scheduled for the same day as other races,” Watson said.

“The public needs to know that every sport has a governing body and they cannot just go out to any sport and do as they please. We have all rights to cancel a race if it has not been sanctioned by us.

“We had an incident last year when two races were held on the same day and that was a disaster. We would never schedule two races on the same day, be it one in the morning and one in the afternoon as one race will always suffer.”

Added Watson: “They have to follow the governing rules and go through the right channels by contacting the BNAA to ask for the race to be added to our calendar and based on the date they choose we will grant them permission.

“We normally have our calendar out by September 1 with the first race taking place on Labour Day.”

Watson stressed that the BNAA affiliates are well aware of the procedure for planning a road race. She added that charity walks do not need to be sanctioned by the BNAA.

“We should not be having two road races at the same time,” she said. “We started discussing the issue last year when we had that clash.

“We’re being proactive before it becomes a major issue. If there are two races scheduled for the same time on the same day, one going one way and another the other way, then it is going to end up being a safety issue. A charity walk has nothing to do with the BNAA, but the minute you add running into any event it has to fall under us.

“Just respect us as the governing body of road racing and track and field, is what we’re saying.

“If anyone wants to submit a race they can send a submission to our office [bnaa@logic.bm] and we will advise if we can accommodate the race.”

The Renaissance Re 10 Mile Challenge is scheduled for Sunday at 9am, with the Validus Running of the Bulls 5k taking place on March 30.