winner of marathon disqualified for using ipod

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Second Lakefront Marathon winner disqualified for iPod use

By Tom Held of the Journal Sentinel
Oct. 7, 2009

Lakefront Marathon officials have disqualified a second women's winner because the runner from Lombard, Ill., tuned into her iPod in the late stages of the run to Veterans Park, Race Director Kristine Hinrichs confirmed Wednesday morning.
The unprecedented action appears to elevate Corina Canitz of Brookfield into the top spot, although two other women beat her to the finish line on Sunday.
The fastest woman, Cassie Peller, a 23-year-old student at Marquette University, was disqualified shortly after the race for accepting aid - a water bottle - from a friend outside of the official water stations. That made Jennifer Goebel, 27, the winner, but only for a couple days.
Race photos showed Goebel with an iPod tucked into the waistband of her shorts and she admitted using the device in violation of a USA Track and Field rule that applied only to elite runners in the Lakefront Marathon. Runners competing for USATF championships and or cash prizes are not allowed to use electronic devices.
The Lakefront serves as the Wisconsin USATF marathon championship.
A USATF official said the disqualification of Goebel may be a first in the country, although the rule banning iPods has long been a source of great debate and consternation among runners. The USATF relaxed the rule late last year, allowing race directors to decide whether to ban the devices at races.
The change essentially allowed most mid-pack runners to use a musical boost, but kept in place the ban for elites.
Goebel, a massage therapist from Lombard, Ill., said she believes she should not be disqualified and her time of 3:02:50 and her ranking should remain in the official results.
"If they're going to disqualify me for having an iPod they should disqualify everyone who had one," she said. "It's just a little ridiculous. I went there to have a fun race with my friends."
Goebel said she is willing to give up the prize money, which would be a $500 penalty for tuning into a mix of classic rock, techno and alternative between miles 19 and 21.
"I wasn't listening to it earlier in the race," she said. "I wasn't going to put the music on unless I thought I needed it.
"If you're bored, it pumps you up a little bit. Sometimes, on a long training run, I'll bring it along for the last half hour. When I run marathons sometimes I carry it and never put it on."
The 3:02:50 she ran on Sunday is Goebel's second-fastest marathon time, well off the 2:52 she scored in her debut in the Chicago Marathon in 2005.
Goebel's infraction was detected in a picture shared online and pointed out by posters debating Peller's disqualification on the Badgerland Striders web forum. (The photo above is courtesy of Bill Flaws of Running in the USA).
A number of runners complained that Peller had been unfairly singled out by race officials, and that Goebel also deserved to be disqualified.
(The photos can be found here and through Running in the USA)
If Goebel's disqualification stands, the victory would fall to Canitz, a 42-year-old mother of four who won the Lakefront in 2007 and 2008. On Sunday, she trailed Peller by nearly two minutes and finished more than a minute behind Goebel.
Her 3:04:20 was good enough for third place, then second...and now, maybe first.

ss43

Surely she should only be disqualified from the championship and the prize money, given that they say in their rules that you can use them if you're not competing for prizes or championship places.