Kiwi Kid Banned From Sprinting Barefoot; Legendary Runner Calls It "Political Correctness All Gone Wrong"

A 10-year-old New Zealand kid was controversially kicked out of a Lower Hutt athletics meet for running in bare feet.

Henry Patterson was disqualified from the 80m sprint final at a regional primary school athletics meet earlier this month, with organizers saying they wanted to protect the youngster's feet.

But the decision has been slammed as "cruel and inhuman" by his mother, and "political correctness all gone wrong" by a living legend of Kiwi running.

Henry ran in bare feet for an earlier heat, before officials told him to get some shoes at the start line of the final.

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Andrena Patterson, Henry's mum, was not aware of the rule and disappointed with her son's treatment.

"To allow a child to run where he would have qualified on merit, and then disqualify him is cruel and inhuman," she told Stuff. "We haven't broken criminal law here. It's a children's race and we should be encouraging them to participate."

Kiwi Olympic runners have also slammed the decision. John Walker, who won the 1500m gold at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, told Stuff that Patterson's ban was "political correctness all gone wrong."

"I ran in bare feet until I was 17 along with hundreds of other kids," he said.

"Soon the kids of today will be unable to do anything due to the new health and safety rules. I am not a fan of these restrictions."

Fellow Olympic 1500m runner Nick Willis, who won silver in Beijing in 2008 and bronze in Rio this year, agreed.

"When I ran kids athletics, we weren't allowed to wear track spikes until we turned 10, so 99 per cent of us wore bare feet even on the hard synthetic running track," he also told Stuff.

Yet Lower Hutt School Sports Association spokesman Neil Sargisson defended the ruling.

"Everybody's going to have an opinion on whether or not kids can run in shoes or not," he said. "The rule on that day is because most run in shoes."

Ethiopean Abebe Bikila won the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics wearing bare feet, while famed South African runner Zola Budd usually trained without wearing shoes.