Grandma's Marathon's Successful Headphones Ban

[JamesM]

For people who agree with the above statement that

no proof that headphones cause enough of a problem to really warrant a ban

just come and work a couple of races with me.
You will soon see the problems and the stories you can tell afterward will add to the 'anecdotal' evidence.

Heck you don't even need to work a race, just try running down the beach sidewalk in Fort Lauderdale on a Saturday morning and see how many headphone wearers fail to hear an 'on your left' and act startled when you pass them, if you can get bye.

When I call a cherry "Good morning" to oncoming runners the ones without headphones smile, and normally return the greeting, the ones with headphones normally fail to respond, don't make eye contact and go pass with a glassy look to their eyes.

Headphones are grounds for instant disqualification in Triathlons and they have not had a flight of people leaving the sport as a result. On the contrary, the sport continues to grow at a rapid pace. As the sport of Triathlon matures it has become a well regulated sport. I think part of the attraction is that it is considered a fair sport with clear rules and events often have on course Judges who make sure the rules are enforced.

[Trailrunnerdude]

Originally Posted by JamesM

Headphones are grounds for instant disqualification in Triathlons and they have not had a flight of people leaving the sport as a result. On the contrary, the sport continues to grow at a rapid pace. As the sport of Triathlon matures it has become a well regulated sport. I think part of the attraction is that it is considered a fair sport with clear rules and events often have on course Judges who make sure the rules are enforced.

I didn't realize headphones are banned in triathlons. How do course officials disqualify competitors who wear them? Do they grab them off the course or simply tell them they've been disqualified and to stop? I would imagine that people who wear them in triathlons do so primarily in the bike or run portions.

[keithcstone]

In December I was in Zurich which hosts a huge holiday race, or actually 8 races. It's roughly an 9K, but they have thousands that do it and they're grouped by ability. There's a couple kids races, then the elites races, then the sub-elites, then the age-groupers, and the "happy runners".

I watched several races and noticed at the time no one was wearing headphones. I went back and looked at my pictures and noticed even in further examination there wasn't any headphones, even in the "happy runners".

It is possible to get thousands of people to run without headphones.

[Trailrunnerdude]

Originally Posted by keithcstone

In December I was in Zurich which hosts a huge holiday race, or actually 8 races. It's roughly an 9K, but they have thousands that do it and they're grouped by ability. There's a couple kids races, then the elites races, then the sub-elites, then the age-groupers, and the "happy runners".

I watched several races and noticed at the time no one was wearing headphones. I went back and looked at my pictures and noticed even in further examination there wasn't any headphones, even in the "happy runners".

It is possible to get thousands of people to run without headphones.

That's really interesting. I'm sure people in Europe enjoy listening to music and I'm sure they have similar devices over there. Was there anything in the race literature or application process that let the runners know they shouldn't wear headphones during this race?

Also, I went to USAT's site and found where it says that headphones are not allowed on all USAT sanctioned triathlons, which seems to be the vast majority of all triathlons. They state that people caught with them during a tri will suffer a 'variable time penalty.'

[keithcstone]

Originally Posted by Trailrunnerdude

That's really interesting. I'm sure people in Europe enjoy listening to music and I'm sure they have similar devices over there. Was there anything in the race literature or application process that let the runners know they shouldn't wear headphones during this race?

Not sure, how's your German?

http://www.silvesterlauf.ch/index.htm

[Trailrunnerdude]

Originally Posted by keithcstone

Not sure, how's your German?

http://www.silvesterlauf.ch/index.htm

good enough to see that there wasn't any specific rule against wearing headphones although they have a fairly detailed list of rules. It looks as though there may be more of a cultural factor at play in this instance.