For starters, I think we could run the emulator on which ever speed participants feel comfortable with. Remember that soft-resetting to a certain point in the game means you're not progressing so much as reverting back to a previous checkpoint in-game, which isn't jumping further ahead by any means.
Assuming we allow for whichever emulator speeds are necessary for each competitor, then that is as far as we go in terms of "cheating the system". You obviously will not be permitted to use cheats such as "walk through walls", étc. I would have declared "no solo runs" due to the extreme ease of plowing through original games with just one Pokemon, but ultimately a speed-run intends for the fastest time possible and therefore it's best we schedule when, where and how when we all know who is available at what time.
Allow me to reiterate, I intend for us to group together on Skype so we can chat whilst playing through the version of our choosing. Mostly everything in-game is up to the discretion of its users, but the aim of the competition is to see if we can break records and challenge one another to see who has the fastest fingers on Smogon. To add, memorizing the story itself is also key because we know how difficult it can be remembering how to solve some of those grueling puzzles, and particular battles which have proven to be a struggle in the past (Chikorita starters facing Falkner, for example).
Thoughts, interests?