And you thought paying 275 bucks was alot to run a race…. 6
Dec30
“Americans who are not in the ‘NYRRC’ club will pay $255, while non-U.S. citizens will pay $347″. I woke up this morning and was just disturbed reading this.
Kinda gives me the willies, could you imagine paying 300 bucks to run a 50k with real aid stations, big mountains, and more than just water stations. We even get clean air at the 50k…..That one’s called the Speedgoat 50k, and it’s 86 bucks. And…..you get alot more than a cheesy cotton t-shirt…good god!
Gotta appreciate the Ultra world….that’s all I gotta say on that.
Read more here on the NYC Marathon….although it might cost you a buck or two to log-in.
Stay tuned for the Bandera 100k, ”Speedgoat Odds”. This year I”m gonna make a stout effort to post my mumbo jumbo on some of this year’s best races across the US. That would be Ultras, not boring, flat, runs through the city…Man, that is just ridiculous. Way to milk the money NYC, you really are a great city?
Speedgoat 50k registration goes online January 1, 7am MST. I think you’ll find this one more entertaining than the NYC Marathon.
Well said. Over inflated race fees. Another reason why Ultras on trails are so much better. Terri Hayes’ ultra race series has no race fees – Donation only.
The price of 5k, marathons,triathlons, and half marathons (sometimes only $10 cheaper than the full 26.2) is out of control. I would like to say that this won’t happen to ultras, but it could and in some cases probably already has on races I’m not aware of. Certainly the popular races like Miwok, WS100, Chuckanut, etc could do this to us. There are “fatass” 50k events that charge a fee even though they offer no support, or a $30 fee for one water station. The Plain 100 is $95 and offers nothing except a list of rules of things you can’t do. Why would I want to do that event?
Man, that was some serious rambling I said there….:-)
Kinda makes WS look reasonable at 370 bucks, and if they are the leaders, (except that hot race in hotter place) then it’s really not that bad, it could be worse I guess.
I don’t think you’ll see those three races listed above raising entries. They have too much class to do that.
I didn’t mean to ramble too much.
I agree that ultra RDs have more class than the large companies that produce major road events. But if the large companies start getting into ultras, the fees could skyrocket. Ultras are still a great value for the time spent on the trail!
[...] Karl Meltzer opines on the insanity that has become race entry fees. Am I the only person who refuses to enter an event that has a “convenience fee”? What is this, ticketmaster? [...]
While I agree the race fees for many major road marathons are getting out of control I do have to step a little to the defense of some of these RD’s. Most major cities require two police officers per intersection at overtime rates and they are paid for one hour before and after the scheduled time runners are expected to be on the course regardless of location or actual time on course. This can add up to quite a large sum of money and I doubt NYC steps up and offers one dime back despite the masses the race draws to their city. Their are also major fees associated with just wanting (if you think the Forest Service is a pain try dealing with some of our elected officials) to put on a race as well as other local requirements. For example the running with the Leopards 5K (East High) was forced to reroute their course slightly to help mitigate some of the $3600 in police fees Salt Lake City wanted to charge for the running of this high school fund raiser. There used to be a time that cities welcomed races and allowed volunteers at every other or minor intersections instead of police officers but that time has passed. There was also a time that the cities understood if you pulled 3000 people downtown on a Saturday morning that the police fees would be more then offset by added tax revenues and business generated by the runners as well as their families.
So Karl while I agree 100% that many of the big road races are suffering from major greed there are also many that are simply forced to raise their fees or relocate due to the greed of many of the major metropolitan areas. But that is just my two cents worth and I am happy that RD’s like yourself put on a quality race for a reasonable price. But with the growth of ultra running will come larger companies as well as forest service officials who see the opportunity to fleece the masses. But then again that is just my two cents worth.