“Kelly McClure had a good run at the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon on Sunday, coming in unexpectedly in fifth place. Instead of basking in the achievement and the $500 prize, McClure was disqualified for wearing an iPod,” Nicole Martinelli reports for Cult of Mac.
“Marathon organizers nulled her win and the prize for wearing an iPod – citing a USA Track & Field (USATF) rule that forbids prize money being awarded to runners who wear iPods or any other electronic devices,” Martinelli reports. “In 2007, the USATF banned iPods ‘ensure safety and to prevent runners from having a competitive edge’ but then repealed the rule in 2009, leaving it up to individual marathons to decide for themselves.”
Martinelli reports, “Organizers of the Green Bay first cited the USATF ban for disqualifying McClure then had a ‘doh’ moment when they realized the repeal.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lava_Head_UK” for the heads up.]
I am sure that next year they will have it spelled out specifically that u cannot have one, as the repealed rule does now allow them to do. It is up to the individual organizers to spell out the conditions.
Why would wearing an iPod be an uncompetitive advantage? Would wearing Nike shoes instead of New Balance be construed as uncompetitive advantage? What exactly is uncompetitive about it?
Read ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner’ for some perspective.
An iPod can be a pacing device, giving an unfair advantage. Kind of like that guy in golf who had a physical handicap that prevents him from walking 18 holes and is allowed to use a golf cart when everyone else can’t.
So using a pace runner is okay but an iPod is not.
Unfair only if no one else has equal access. ANYONE can own a portable MP3 player.
And what golf tournament doesn’t allow the use of carts?
Actually, no professional golf tournament allows carts. It’s one of those golf things. It’s supposed to show “endurance” or whatnot. It was felt not walking the course gave the guy with bad legs an unfair advantage.
It is traditional to walk, and golf is highly traditional. It can be an endurance issue, particularly when you play 36 holes or more, are carrying your own clubs, and take a lot of strokes per round. But the pros have caddies and take only about 70 strokes per round. So I think that tradition trumps endurance.
… wondering, wearing an iPod while training for a marathon is dangerous. Chancing life and limb. The buds make it difficult to hear the moron in the car zipping up the break-down lane you are in.
There WAS a time when they were not readily available to all.
An opportunity, again, for Apple to gain even more fav publicity. Suggest they give her a Gift Cert for $500 at Apple Store and prom it.