Overview

• The Run-it-Straight challenge requires two unprotected participants to charge at each other until they collide at full force.
• On May 26, a 19-year-old man on New Zealand’s North Island died in hospital after suffering a severe head injury during a private weekend event.
• Organizers in New Zealand and Australia stage these viral competitions before large crowds and often offer prize money in the thousands.
• New Zealand Police spokesperson Ross Grantham warned potential participants to recognise the “enormous safety and injury risks” of the stunt.
• Medical experts at Auckland University of Technology and brain-injury charities caution that repeated concussions from such collisions can trigger chronic traumatic encephalopathy, leading to behavioural, mood and cognitive disorders.