Posted: November 30, 2007

Athletics: USATF Delegates Debate Headphones Ban

From David Monti © 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com HONOLULU (29-Nov) -- 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." Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest