Just saving this so I can re-use it in the future
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What Zwift do: Marketing and PR
What WTRL do: code and organise relatively good racing
What Zwift don’t do: code and organise relatively good racing
What WTRL don’t do: Marketing and PR
What the customer gets: A horrendously ugly mishmash of the two
If there was a decent racing infrastructure within Zwift itself this would be a non-issue, but this is the inevitable consequence of A. Not investing in that area and B. Therefore farming it all off (data included) to a 3rd part borne from the racing community.
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I feel I said something wrong if you agree with me…
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Other organisers don’t extract data from Zwift for their own processing.
So why are kids still allowed in the TTT? There is no consistency
So why are kids still allowed in the TTT?
I suspect that in the TTT they don’t employ the same heavy results processing, and just rely on Zwiftpower for the results.
Whatever it is, I’m sure we can all agree that it is … careless and unfortunate … that Zwift have designed their flagship racing league in such a way as to fail to comply with child protection legislation, and WTRL are probably as disappointed as the rest of us that they have been forced to exclude children as a result.
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No we cant all agree .
But it is unfortunate that they have not considered adding under age racing events .
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Well they obviously can’t do that, because they have based their decision on the argument that child protection laws prevent them from including children.
Only in this event . As others have pointed out it is perfectly OK to do it if , it is a properly constructed event that considers the entrants and the terms and conditions are correct .
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Without any explanation as to what makes ZRL uniquely unsuitable for children nor how other organisers are supposed to get round this mysterious problem when Zwift and WTRL jointly cannot, that’s just vacuous world salad.
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This is some info I found about the EU regulations regarding this topic:
Are there any specific safeguards for data about children?
Your company/organisation can only process a child’s personal data on grounds of consent with the explicit consent of their parent or guardian up to a certain age. The age threshold for obtaining parental consent varies between 13 and 16 years, depending on the age established in each EU Member State. Check with your National Data Protection Authority.
A reasonable effort must be made, taking into consideration available technology, to verify that the consent given is truly in line with the law. That means that your company/organisation must implement age-verification measures (for example control questions, actions on the website).
The consent from the parent or guardian must be obtained if your organisation works on online social networking sites that provide free games to children or family insurance, for example.
If your organisation targets children, you must ensure that any information and communication addressed to a child is easily accessible and in clear and plain language that a child can easily understand.
Preventive or counselling services offered directly to a child don’t require parental authorisation since they are aimed at protecting the children’s best interests.
So, WTRL would have to make sure they:
- Obtaining parental consent
- Implement age-verification measures
- Any information and communication addressed to a child is easily accessible and in clear and plain language that a child can easily understand
EDIT: There are probably other stricter(?) laws and regulations in other countries/unions around the world. COPPA, CalOPPA etc.
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I don’t really have an opinion about the decision itself, I trust that none of the parties involved wanted to make this call so they must have felt that there was no other way. Could it be that the decision was motivated by the obligatory height and weight videos (when requested)?
Regardless, I agree that a bit more communication would be nice to those impacted by the decision. Also to take away the uncertainty of its implications for future events.
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Height and weight validation takes place in other race series too. I’m struggling to guess what it might be that makes the ZRL so uniquely unique that it alone out of all zwift events is unable to overcome this hurdle. And of course no one at zwift has deigned to tell us, hence the idle speculation here and elsewhere. Maybe zwift will ban children from particular events in the future and we might be able to narrow down the issue. It seems…strange, to say the least.
Of course, if an organiser happened to think that zwift physics was sufficiently unrealistic that very light and/or short people had an unfair advantage, and realise that banning children would largely (though maybe not perfectly) solve this problem and pacify the whining desk-jockeys who are the prime customer base, then some unspecified child protection issue might be a convenient fig-leaf to hide behind. Easier than either persuading zwift to fix its physics or convincing the desk-jockeys that the physics model is fine and the juniors deserve their wins.
But only someone who was very cynical would think such a thing.
BTW I genuinely don’t have any opinion on whether the model is fit for purpose. I’m sure it has some flaws like any model does. But I’ve been beaten by an 11-14 year old boy at a parkrun (nearly beaten by an 11-14 girl once too) and I’m a better runner than cyclist.
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I think this is just WTRL who have been made aware that they do not follow some rules for child protection and that they can not do anything about it before next season starts. They want to cover their asses. As simple as that.
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Its not idle speculation. It has been well and clearly explained. Zwift and WRTL are separate organizations. For under-16’s to continue competing in events where WRTL holds and processes information about the competitors, they need to have the permission from the child guardians, it isn’t sufficient to operate under the parental permission already given to Zwift.
…annoyed parent because their child can’t compete = annoyed parent
…annoyed parent because you have their child’s contact detail without permission = automatic fines and potential lawsuit
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Others might get around it by simply ignoring the requirements either in a devil may care , or niave approach to the risk . Doesnt make it right , or the risk go away . Ignorance is only bliss while you are being ignored . If others are not ensuring compliance then perhaps this is a time to validate that too .
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Maybe you don’t realise, but WTRL also organise the weekly TTTs that children take part in, and signing up to a WTRL account gives them access to your zwift data just the same as for the ZRL.
James, normally the quote is “follow the money”, but in this case it’s “follow the data”. For many WRTL events all the data is with Zwift, for others it isn’t.
And yes, WRTL are probably already urgently looking their account registration process.
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