Latest News: England Athletics Headphone ban
England Athletics announces new headphone ban for all race organisers.
In this blog post we share with you news of quite a significant change in the rules of racing. The majority of Nice Work races and the ones we organise on behalf of our many partners have a race licence granted by England Athletics. You will see this on the race descriptions, but let’s share with you what goes on behind the scenes of organising your favourite events.
Who is England Athletics?
England Athletics is our governing body and every event that is licensed is subject to UKA Rules (UK Athletics) and has to conform to Athletics Licence Standards. That means that the events that you take part in is safe, well organised and meets high standards. The next time you are at a race spot the Race Director speaking to the person wearing the bright orange EA tabard. This is the EA adjudicator who comes along to every race to check that we are meeting these standards. There is a 400-odd page rule book that we must conform to at all of our races and all of this quietly goes on behind the scenes of race day.
What’s the new headphone rule?
As of the 1 st April 2024, EA brought in a change in the rule book and for all those runners who love to listen to music or a Podcast when you race, unfortunately this affects you.
The new rule states that all in ear and over ear headphones are banned from running events, whether this is road, trail or mixed terrain courses which are shared with other users.
This includes, but is not limited to, parks, seafront promenades, footpaths, bridleways, roads and open spaces. Routes fully closed to everyone except those competing may allow any type of headphones but is at the organiser discretion.
Unfortunately, this includes all our Nice Work events and partner races, including races such as Hastings Half Marathon as part of the route is along the shared promenade which is not closed to the public.
The good news is that the bone conducting type are permitted as these sit outside of the ear. Although we do still recommend you have the volume low enough to hear marshal instructions and traffic around you.
There may be the odd race that is not licensed under EA but we will state that on the webpage and in the race instructions.
What happens if you get seen wearing head or earphones?
Well, unfortunately, the race director or EA adjudicator has the right to disqualify you from the race and that means you will have a DQ listed in the results.
For those of you who have raced with us in the past, you will see this new logo in the race instructions:
We know this a huge change for some of you and we hope you now understand a little more of the background. We would like to thank you for your understanding and let’s enjoy many many safe Nice Work running events.
Rachael Wood
Managing Director of Nice Work