Culture
The Hong Kong Marathon Wants to Ban Selfies
Even a quick snap can cause a massive, dangerous runner pile-up, organizers say.
At this year's Hong Kong Marathon in February, a competitor reportedly dropped her phone as she was trying to snap a selfie. In the process of picking it up, she caused some of the runners behind her to trip and fall.
To prevent this from ever happening again, organizers are taking action well in advance of the next 10K race in February 2014. On Tuesday, marathon organizers announced an anti-selfie campaign, urging runners to leave their mobile phones on the sidelines. Officials originally wanted to ban mobile phones from the race completely, but realized that would be unrealistic (and impossible to enforce).