Hoping to avoid a repeat of a starting-line pile-up at this year’s event, organizers of the Hong Kong Marathon have launched an “anti-selfie” campaign for the 2014 race.
According to AFP, a woman caused a chain-reaction crash at the start of the 10k race at the 2013 marathon when she dropped her phone, then stopped to pick it up after attempting to take a photo of herself at the starting line.
While organizers ruled a complete cell phone ban impractical, they are planning on using TV, radio and social media to promote the message leading up to next year’s race, on Feb. 16.
"It is almost impossible to ban competitors from bringing their mobile phones," William Ko, chairman of the marathon organizing committee, told AFP. "What we've been trying to do is to get the message across to take care of yourself and to take care of other runners.
"For the race itself, we will have officials to hold some message boards to remind people not to take photos at the start, on the route or at the finish because it is dangerous."
No word yet on how Instagram feels about this news, but we imagine they think it’s #awful.
