What is with the rising costs of running races?
these are my own personal experiences and opinions,
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I’m giving up on running races that go over my budget. Chris and I have done a regular 5 Mile race for the past 4 years. We even did it last year on my brother’s wedding day and then went to the wedding after the race. This year though, the costs have gotten even higher and I’m not going to spend my money on it.
First of all, when I started doing this race 5 years ago (first year by myself) the cost was about $20 to sign-up. It is a big race of like 4,000+ sign-ups. Over the years, the fee has gone up to $35 and you have to sign-up within the early registration period, online especially, in order to even possibly get in. A bit ridiculous for a 5 mile run. I’m not paying $70 for us to both run a 5 mile race. I’m not going to win any prize and I don’t need the crowds to cheer me on, I can run 5 miles without all the hoopla and with more cash in my pocket to buy me a shiny new pair of running shoes.
I’ll go out that day from my house, as long as lefty (my knee) coorperates from now until the end of May, and run a 5 mile race myself… for free. Maybe I’ll even take that money to get me a new outfit for the big personal race!
What are the reasons for the rising costs? If you know, please let me know… I am clueless and getting rather annoyed by all the races I used to run charing $5-15 more for the same course, food, prizes, etc…
- I use my own car to get there (i.e. my own gas I’ve paid for)
- The t-shirts are not any nicer than they were before and sometimes are made worse than they were before. I understand inflation, so let people opt out of getting one to save a few $ and stop giving out beer glasses and you can save there too.
- Food costs haven’t risen that much regarding soda and bagels. I don’t like either and usually they are stale at the end anyway. Being a middle-to-end pack runner, nothing is left for me when I finish so, again I ask what am I paying for?
- I don’t believe they are collecting more money to go to any charity, but I do think the clubs are starting to use more popular races to bring in a larger revenue for their groupies.
- I don’t feel that any money I’ve ever paid to a running group was worth it. I never was ‘invited’ to be a group runner and even when I showed up to a group run, I was left behind because they started earlier than they had said they would. They said, we start at 8am. I got there ready to go at 7:50am, they were already gone. How rude?! AND… this happened two weeks in a row, then I stopped trying and went out by myself. So much for a ‘group’ run.
- Most of these clubs are family affairs. Parents started them, raised their kids in them and now the kids take over and the cycle continues. They haven’t seemed too open to new people or friendly to them, despite what their flier or website states. They just want your money to fund their scholarships. And they sure as hell don’t care about you especially if you are a back of the pack runner, which for all newbies is inevitable to these high school track stars running the club races.
- I’ve never made one friend in these clubs, but instead joined them with a friend to feel like I knew someone. Not that I haven’t tried, but when you aren’t welcomed in any fashion after a few tries, I’m not out to beg people to be a running mate.
In the end, I’ve decided I probably won’t pay again to run a 5K, 5 Mile or 10K anytime soon, unless they are $10 or less. And even that, I’m not sure it’s worth the cost because I’m more of a distance runner than a sprinter. I would rather spend less than $50 on a 10+ mile race. Even halfs and fulls are getting a bit expensive for my wallet. I’ve got nothing to prove and I count whatever time as my fastest for a distance as a PR, whether in practice or on a race course. If you’ve run it that far and fast, it counts in my book.
***I love the races I can run where I can opt to save $5 or more by skipping on the free t-shirts I have too many of to count. I wish more race directors would offer this.***
Are you finding your races are getting more and more expensive, with few of the extra funds going to charities? I don’t mind paying if I am helping out a charity, but I wonder in such a 5 mile race when you have 4,000 people paying $20 vs the same paying $35, what is the extra $60,000 going? I don’t think bagels, t-shirts or sodas are costing them that much more per person, do you?
Sorry, the stale bagels and crummy sodas are not my thing, so I’ll save my money. If you’ve got a shot at winning a good prize, it’s worth it for you… for me, it’s not at this point :)
