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New UKA road running rules - now with added headphone bans!!

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Jovi Runner Mar 2016 12:24pm, 22 Mar 2016 4,034 posts	0 Jovi Runner I should add - I never wear them in races if they are specifically banned.
larkim Mar 2016 12:25pm, 22 Mar 2016 535 posts	0 larkim Personally (as someone who trains and races without headphones) I agree with you DeeGee, but whether you agree with it or not I think you'd have to accept that a lot of people "believe" that they can't run / race without motivational music in their ears. We're always being told that part of training is race simulation - clothing, shoes, nutrition. I can see how some runners need the "crutch" of music in their ears if they never run a step without it.
Jovi Runner Mar 2016 12:26pm, 22 Mar 2016 4,035 posts	0 Jovi Runner At lasy=t year's Locke Park 20 (20 laps around a park so no road issues) they originally said no headphones in case you didn't hear people lapping you coming past. I did email them and they said that they were happy for people to run in them as long as they only had one headphone in which is what I did (running round a local park 20 times needed music to keep me going!). However, the people who seemed to impede faster runners were not those wearing headphones but those running several a breast across the path and chatting with each other!
Carpathius Mar 2016 12:33pm, 22 Mar 2016 9,140 posts	0 Carpathius If you "can't" run without music then don't enter races where earphones are banned. I don't agree that it is unfair on newer runners or those new to racing. There's no reason they can't abide by safety rules like anyone else. I often run with earphones in - but on pavements and being very aware of looking around at junctions and being very aware of cycle paths/shared paths and other people. In a race, no way. Even on off-road races earphone wearers are bloody annoying. At a trail 10k last year on a narrow path there was a chap completely unaware of me saying 'excuse me' and trying to get past. I had to tap him on the shoulder - which made him jump a mile.
Ceratonia Mar 2016 12:37pm, 22 Mar 2016 3,378 posts	0 Ceratonia In last year's Chester marathon, there was a lady doing just under 4 hours who had a mini stereo system playing music out of her hat. Easy enough to move away if you didn't like it, in a marathon anyway.
larkim Mar 2016 12:38pm, 22 Mar 2016 536 posts	0 larkim I'm not for a minute arguing that its unfair or that headphone wearers are "right" that they can't run without music. I'm just arguing that it might discourage people from joining the sport and that has to be a consequence to be factored in when the "powers that be" consider these sorts of things. It doesn't matter whether the reason for being discouraged is valid or not (there are loads of others - people will laugh at me on the street, don't like being out a night, not got the time, don't look good in lycra, etc etc), its the impact that that discouragement has.
Hills of Death (HOD) Mar 2016 12:40pm, 22 Mar 2016 31,965 posts	0 Hills of Death (HOD) I'm a big fan of DQ people with headphone. Ok run on your own with headphone yes I've done it occassionally myself but never in a race (apart from Thunder Run that's different and an Ultra !). But on roads with cars around come on be sensible folks. I remember a lad being told by the RD on motorbike in Connemara marathon and he shouts back 'I can't run without them' PLEASE
The Teaboy Mar 2016 12:43pm, 22 Mar 2016 13,967 posts	0 The Teaboy Perhaps they contained the instructions to keep moving his arms and legs and keep breathing harder to get Oxygen in?
BaronessBL Mar 2016 12:48pm, 22 Mar 2016 5,316 posts	0 BaronessBL I'm putting on a series of trail races this year which are held under UKA rules. All of them are unmarshalled, 85% off road but with short sections of 'quiet country lanes' ie single carriageway roads with no pavement. I could ban headphones altogether but anyone determined could just have their ipod in a pocket until they were out of sight from the start and if I were to question anyone wearing headphones at the end they could assure me that they removed them for any road sections and I would be none the wiser. Equally if they had their ipod in a pocket for the first half mile they could do so for the last half mile....there is no way I could enforce this if someone was determined. I will of course remind people at the start of this rule but that is all I can do......
Duchess Mar 2016 12:48pm, 22 Mar 2016 6,700 posts	0 Duchess This is the relevant extract from the rules: RULE 240 S 5 UKA SUPPLEMENT – HEADPHONES The wearing of headphones, or similar devices, (other than those medically prescribed), is not permitted in races on any single carriageway road that is not wholly closed to traffic. This restriction does not apply to races held on dual carriageways provided that there are clear, structured separations between the separate carriageways. Competition Providers of races held entirely on roads closed to traffic may apply this condition where appropriate to local circumstances. So, maybe not clear if it's the whole race or the stretch of carriageway that's proscribed? I was going to agree with an earlier poster that most mass-participation events are on wholly closed roads, then I realised that the Edinburgh Half and Full Marathons aren't. I've also run in events where the roads were wholly closed for a period of time but beyond that point, re-opened to traffic. From a safety perspective, long overdue, I've stood on too many road crossings, checkpoints and finish lines yelling "take your ******** earphones out". But I think it will impact on some newcomers (particularly of a certain age) who just won't be able to conceive that it is possible to perform exercise without audial stimulation. It's not unfair...but it might be a shock.