Boy, 6, who ran MARATHON slams parents and race officials say they allowed him ...

A six-year-old boy whose parents were slammed for letting him run a marathon has admitted it was 'hard' and he even 'cried.' 

Rainer Crawford from Bellevue, Kentucky, said sometimes during training 'I falled' but added 'sometimes it was like normal'.

The youngster completed the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati, Ohio, in eight hours and 35 minutes last weekend.

His father Ben revealed the feat on his Instagram earlier this week and admitted the boy 'physically struggled' and had to be bribed with Pringles to keep going.

But he was met with a volley of criticism - including by former US Olympian Kara Goucher - for letting someone so young compete.

Ben defended himself today as he appeared on national television but said 'watching his little body' was 'pretty mind-blowing.'

Meanwhile race officials also fired back at criticism, bosses saying they let the boy run because they could offer 'support.' 

Rainer told Good Morning America: 'Some of the training is like hard, but I falled [sic] sometimes, but sometimes, when I did one, it was like, normal.'

Ben added: 'I didn't know if he was going to be able to do it. To be able to run alongside of him and to watch his little body, it's pretty mind-blowing.'

Race officials have also received a lot of slack for allowing such a young boy to run such a grueling race.

But CEO of Pig Works, the race's parent company, Iris Simpson Bush, said they had the intention of trying to 'offer protection and support if they were on our course.'

She said: 'Our decision was intended for some amount of safety and protection for the child. The family finished the race after the formal closure of the course.'

She also revealed the family had entered the race a 'bandits' - participating without officially being registered - in years prior 'before we had any knowledge of it and we knew he was likely to do so again.'

Bush also said the race will only allow those 18 years and older to enter the race going forward, as was the policy beforehand. She also said she accepted 'full responsibility for the decision' and accepted that it was 'not the best course of action.'

The minimum age for the 26.2-mile race in Cincinnati is 18 years old, 14 years old to run in the half marathon, and 12 years old to run in the 10K.

Rainer completed the entire race with his parents, Ben and Kami Crawford, alongside his other siblings and the family has also received a lot of slack for pushing the little boy so hard.

The Crawfords, a family-of-eight, who chronicle their adventures on a YouTube Channel, have a prominent presence on social media, and once wrote a book about being the largest family to hike the Appalachian Trail. But this was their first marathon as a family.

US Olympian Kara Goucher lashed out at the family, saying six is too young for a marathon. 

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'I don't know who needs to hear this, but a six year old cannot fathom what a marathon will do to them physically,' Goucher said Twitter.

'A six year old does not understand what embracing misery is. A six year who is 'struggling physically' does not realize they have the right to stop and should.' 

Goucher, a two-time Olympian who competed in the 10,000 meters in Beijing in 2008 and as a marathoner in the 2012 London Games, went on to say: 'I'm not questioning motivation or saying it is bad parenting. But as an Olympic athlete, I promise you this is not good for the child.

'Children are children. Let them run around, but as the parent you need to protect their growing bodies and their young minds,' she added. 

Experts told Good Morning America that Rainer's growth plates and tissues aren't fully developed by his young age and extreme activities - such as a marathon - could be potentially dangerous to children. 

'If a young

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