The first thing to keep in mind about the Spudman, is that it is run by the Burley Lions club.  Just a bunch of good ol' boys that don't get too uptight about much.   But I think if they did see you with your earphones in, they would DQ you.

 

I know how you feel about the iPod...i can't live w/o mine either.  I kept mine in my pocket during the last Spudman, I intended to wear it during the bike, but i was in a hurry at the first transition, so i did not put in my ear phones (and there are many officials in the transition areas) and i just never took my hands off of the bars long enough to get it out, turn it on, and all of that.  I did, however turn it on during the run.  I had it in my pocket (bike shirt rear pocket) and I left it out of sight through that transition and as soon as I was out on the course I took it out and cranked it up!  I got some comments from other runners--nothing bad--just jealous that they did not go through the trouble to hook up their iPods.  I was careful to take it off for the finish line just in case someone would take issue with it.

 

I think that the officials are worried about saftey...like not being able to hear if someone is yelling a warning on the bike, or emergency vehicles or whatever.  Probably valid concerns, but it was worth the risk for me.  If someone wanted to get pissy they could turn in your bib number and you could get DQ'd.  I know that they will DQ you if you don't have your chin strap buckled on your helmet in the transition.  They are just trying to justify their being there so they take every chance to DQ who they can.  So it is a risk that we take.  Until I am competitive enough to worry about my standing, it is worth it to me to take the risk--so what? they DQ you--you still have your time and you compare yourself to the field and you have the accomplishment of completing the event.  If you were the fastest in your class and you got DQ'd--that might hurt...but other than that--who cares?

 

But I am a bit of a rebel when it comes to authority.

 

On 12/21/06, mom2lots <mom2lots@...> wrote:

I am new to triathlons. My only racing experience, so far, is running
races where music on my iPod is very important to me. I read on the
rules for the Spudman that no MP3 players are allowed. Will
participants be disqualified if they use music during the running
portion of the race?