USATF Delegates Debate Headphones Ban
Posted November 29th, 2007 at 11:00 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Motivation, Music
Delegates to the USATF convention who attended the open session of the Long Distance Running Division chaired by Fred Finke were anxious to debate the ban on headphones in road races which was imposed by USATF at last year’s convention.
“We realize this issue has caused a great deal of angst,” said Finke, who has received hundreds of e-mails on the subject. “It seems to be a hot button issue.”
USATF enacted the ban in accordance with a rule put in place by the IAAF which banned the use of headphones in championship events. The IAAF ban was intended to prevent athletes from receiving information via radio about the whereabouts of their rivals, a practice which is permitted in the big bicycle tours, like the Tour de France.
But in practical application, it has meant that recreational runners are not allowed to wear MP3 players, like Apple’s iPod, and listen to music during road races. Only a handful of U.S. races have actively enforced the ban.
“It hasn’t been given enough of a chance, but it is enforceable,” said Jim Gerweck of the Road Running Technical Council who is also the managing editor of Running Times Magazine. “I wonder how many people in Chicago didn’t hear that the race was cancelled because they were wearing iPods.”
Opinions in the room were sharply divided. Organizers of the Twin Cities Marathon said that they took the ban seriously and disqualified 176 runners from this year’s race for wearing headphones. “I would like to see USATF enforce the rules,” said the event’s operations manager, Brian Mastel.
But Tracy Sundlan, whose Elite Racing event management firm puts on the the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon series, wasn’t sure the ban was well thought out and could simply end up driving away customers for race organizers large and small. “I’m not sure the reason to have the ban is consistent with where the sport is going,” he said, referring the the legions of fun runners who dominate the ranks of America’s road racing participants.
Since USATF is not considering any rules changes at this year’s convention (it’s not a “rules year”), the ban will be in place for at least another year. Delegates voted to table the issue until next year, and Finke said a subcommitte would study the problem and make a recommendation for action, perhaps limiting the ban to just national championship events.
“It’s really a no-win situation,” said Finke. “I’m looking for a middle ground.”
(c) 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
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Tags: apple, ban, debate, delegates, disqualify, elite racing, fred finke, headphone ban, IAAF, ipod, jim gerweck, long distance running division, mp3, mp3 player, radio, research, road running technical council, rock n roll marathon series, rules, running times, running times magazine, running to music, running with headphones, safety, study, Tour de France, tracy sundlan, twin cities marathon, u.s. races, USA Track & Field, usatf, usatf annual convention
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The Final Sprint
[…] Electronics NEWS - about-electronics.eu wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [IMG mp3 runnerwith headphones music ipod]Delegates to the USATF convention who attended the open session of the Long Distance Running Division chaired by Fred Finke were anxious to debate the ban on headphones in road races which was imposed by USATF at last year’s convention. “We realize this issue has caused a great deal of angst,” said Finke, who has received hundreds of e-mails on the subject. “It seems to be a hot button issue.” USATF enacted the ban in accordance with a rule put in pla […]
November 29th, 2007 at 11:26 pmBanning listening to music while running is the stupidist thing I’ve ever heard. It’s time for knuckle heads to get out of the way of those of us that are enjoying life.
February 17th, 2008 at 2:31 am[…] I first turned to the rules themselves. No justification was provided in the rules. I searched the USATF website and couldn’t find much information on the rule. Digging deeper I finally found this: USATF enacted the ban in accordance with a rule put in place by the IAAF which banned the use of headphones in championship events. The IAAF ban was intended to prevent athletes from receiving information via radio about the whereabouts of their rivals […]
March 30th, 2008 at 12:13 pmThis is dumb.
Why can’t we listen to our headphones while running a race?
Purists.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:19 pmIf you don’t want music when you run, leave your headphones at home. I am big enough to figure out how to talk, run, listen, and chew gum at the same time.
Absolute lunacy. I have run over 50 marathons and have never run without headphones. This includes Twin Cities and Chicago in 2007. I can understand championship events, or those eligible for prize money, but for remaining 99% who enjoy running for its simple pleasure, this is just nuts.
Specifcially addressing Mr. Gerweck’s comments about how potentially dangerous the cancelled 2007 Chicago Marathon would have been with headphones gone amuck. Well, I was there and figured out quickly around mile 22 that they cancelled the race. In addition to hearing megaphones making announcements, I also caught on quickly when I saw 40,000 people start walking. Mr. G., you are a fun killer.
April 14th, 2009 at 11:10 am