USA Track and Field has banned US marathon runners from using MP3 players while they run. The reason given is that wearing headphones made the sport more dangerous as participants would not be able to hear runners behind them or announcements from officials. The track association oversees 4,000 events a year and says it would be forced to pay higher insurance costs if the headphones are not banned.

However, many of those competing in the New York marathon on November 4 are set to ignore the ban. A high number uses footwear and iPod synchronisation which allows them to keep track of details such as distance covered and calories consumed as well as listening to music.

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