Re: IPODS a dangerous distraction from running
If someone wears headphones while training, so long as it doesn't interfere with anyone else, who cares? But it is the race director's business and other runners' business when people's listening to music causes them to be distracted enough to disrupt someone else's race. What's that old saying - ?Your right to swing your fist stops where my face begins?? Your right to wear headphones in races stops when it disrupts someone else's race, whether it's the race director (and that includes his ability to get insurance) or the volunteers or other runners on the course. If headphone wearers didn't cause disproportionately a whole lot more problems than the headphone-free, do you really think there would be such an issue about their use? In my experience (and I have a lot more than most posters both as a runner and a volunteer), the problems I have seen have been almost exclusively caused by people wearing headphones.
Of course, not every headphone wearer is distracted enough to be unaware of their surroundings, and not all will cause a problem. For instance, two people in my club run with headphones. We have tried to get the attention of one of them more than once by shouting, going out into the street and waving wildly - nothing works short of making physical contact. The other usually sees us before we see her, or turns immediately if we call out, no problem in knowing what's going on around her. Problem is, there's no way to tell who will and who won't cause a problem, so it's easier to ban all headphone use to eliminate the problems.
