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Race for Life
Last me start by saying that I'm not criticising the charity, and I'm all for the event raising money for a good cause etc.
However, are the organisers making the most out of the event? I attended one with my wife the other day, and my wife ran it all the way (she came second as it happens). However, from my experience as an innocent bystander a few things struck me:
- Those who wanted to run it were almost looked down on. Why is this? I know one of its aims is to be an all inclusive "non competitve" event to encourage non-runners/non-exercisers to take part but it seemed to me that those who were running were frowned on to some extent. Let's face it - most healthy people should be able to shuffle around a 5K fairly easily shouldn't they and if they can't, couldn't the event provide info to help them improve for next year?
- The benefits of running/regular exercise weren't touched on at all from what I could see. Certainly the pre-event build up was all about the fund raising, but why wasn't the benefits of exercise promoted as a way of helping to stay generally healthy? I've heard of lots of women say that the R4L was a springboard onto "better" things, but this wasn't touched on at all by the organisers.
- From what I can see, there is no follow up from the event. Say someone took one hour to walk/jog the 5K, wouldn't it be fairly easy for a leaflet to be put together along the lines of "If you want to come back next year and improve your time, here is a fun training program to help you achieve that".
I know it's a non-competitive event and is all-inclusive but I came away frustrated thinking that they weren't making the most of the event/opportunity.
For the avoidance of doubt, I'll say again that I'm not criticising the charity aspect of this event. It's just that to me the link between to healthy lifestyle being important was not touched on at all.
I'm guessing there are people cleverer than me within the organisation who have thought about this and their setup generates the most funds for them, but I thought I'd post here for any thoughts.
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Comments
Yawn, is it that time of year already ?
CRUK, while doing great work as a charity, has no agenda to promote 'healthy lifestyle' or any on-going interest in sport or exercise.
R4L is entirely about the fundraising.
The last time I went to one I saw three women walking round the course each scoffing a family bar of dairy milk as they waddled.
Do they emphasise that the charity doesnt get anything unless you raise money on top of the entry fee now ? I always thought that was quite well hidden.
Julie - I guess I'm wondering is that the right agenda though? Couldn't they link the fundraising and "healthy lifestyle" aspects or are they saying actively that's not what they're for?
Cougie - I wasn't aware of the entry fee issue. The entry was quite high (£21 I think my wife said). I also saw a few people who looked like they could do with losing a few pounds to be honest. I think R4L must have done some analysis and figured out this is the best way to raise the most money, but even that I am dubious about (based on no knowledge/stats whatsoever!).
Dave - apologies of this has been gone over a lot in the past. I wasn't aware of that although I admit I didn't look that hard....
JP - Parkrun also came to my mind, but you're right there is nothing at all mentioned about the "next steps" for someone who may want to improve.
The way I see it, the charity is wholly concerned with research into medical treatment and cures for cancer.
Although healthy lifestyle (excersise, diet, non-smoking and everything else) can obviously help lessen the risk of cancer, it just doesn't feature in the remit of CRUK.
I have a very low opinion of the RfL organisers and I feel it is a shame that this taints my view of the charity too. I started off with RfL and it was the springboard to other things. I also marshalled it for a number of years.
However, I too was disillusioned about the missed opportunity to promote a healthy lifestyle and cancer avoidance.
For example, as a volunteer I was expected to marshal both of their events which meant that I was standing around in the sun from about 7:30 am to 4pm. During that time the organisers provided us with a voucher for a meal and one drink from the burger van. There wasn't a single healthy option on the menu and with the heat of the day, one small cup of tea was hardly sufficient. There was loads of water for the runners but we weren't allowed to touch that.
They also provided each runner, who wouldn't have spent more than 2 hours standing around in the sun, with a tube of suncream each, but the volunteers were given one tube between 50 of us. I'd taken my own so I was alright, but I didn't think it was giving out the right message.
There was also a total of ONE person from CRUK present at the event. Everyone else was a volunteer. I was asked questions by the public about the work of the charity and I was unable to answer because we had been provided with no information. I think this was a missed opportunity to get across some of the ways that the money raised was spent, as well as promoting healthy living.
But hey ho, it raises them some money
Interesting... RfL was my first running experience, about 5 years ago, and it definitely gave me the push to run more (Before RfL I was overweight, unfit and had never run more than the 800m at school - I have entered my first marathon this year). However, I trained, and ran all the way round, finished in a respectable time, and raised money for the charity - the only reason I raised the money though, was because I challenged myself to run it properly and do the work beforehand, which people respected. If I'd decided to walk it in fancy dress with a bunch of mates chomping on chocolate, it would have been no achievement at all for me - I was walking 3 miles into uni on a regular basis - and no-one would have been impressed enough to sponsor me.
I know charities need to raise money through high profile and inclusive events, but if you want to do something that attracts sponsorship, it should be a challenge - you may as well sponsor someone to go to work or make a cup of coffee if you work on the kind of basis that a lot of people seem to.
Also agree about the health benefits opportunity missed - there is a huge amount of publicity for the races, why not add in a training schedule, or a list of other races or something? I know it's not their primary concern, but surely research on prevention and healthy lifestyle falls into their ethos - not necessarily their direct remit, but part of what they want to ultimately achieve?
Agree with most of the posts above.
I also think RFL has had its day and CRUK know it but just hasn't come up with a way or replacing it yet. Numbers are down year on year and whatever camp you fall into - someone who wants to carry on runing or a lazy-arse who just wants to be sponsored to go for a walk in the park, you aren't going to turn up and do it year after year.
I definitely agree with this. With the success of park run a lot of what made R4L 'unique' has disappeared.
My mum did it one year and she said never again. She'd rather support our local hospice where you see the money that you raise being put to good use.
Does it really matter if CRUK gives you a voucher for a burger? A burger, once in a while, isn't bad for you.
The charity aspect of RfL is, mostly, junk. Unless people are raising sponsorship nothing goes in the research pot.
RFL is a con. Its CRUK easy way of raising cash by deliberately targeting women in thinking what they doing is a benefit. Lets plug adverts of women, all nice and pink because ladies you all love pink. Target women with the cancer-memory of someone I know tag because it can be emotional. Its a gimmick and CRUK know what they doing. RFL is a dead horse and its time to put it out of its misery.
Some interesting points. I was going to send an email to them along the lines of my first message and post back any reply if I received one, but they don't have an email address.
If they were to push the healthy lifestyle initiative a bit more then in the long run it should lower the number of people developing certain cancers during their lifetime.
By making it non competitive it means people will put minimal training in and end up walking / waddling around.
Have you seen the sort of burgers that are on offer at these events though? They are of the 99% horsemeat 1% sawdust variety. Not the sort of thing you'd want to eat ever, let alone occasionally
Horsemeat is fine to eat.
Horsemeat burgers ? Sounds ok. Not sure about the 1% sawdust tho
As a matter of interest, do you know where the money from the entry fee goes?
You know what I meant - mechanically recovered sh*te.
Well if you think about it, the entry fee probably covers staging the race. Lets say one RFL caters 5,000, maybe 10,000. The organiser will need to cover not just admin, but stewards probably employing them if you cannot find volunteers. Probably cost for first aid. Then there ground costs as some councils will not let you takeover a park for the day for nothing. Not to mention cost of banners and things from CRUK because they not going to give it away. Probably have to take out insurance. Probably have to pay council for road restrictions, maybe police too. Not a cheap thing to organise.
Tesco used to be their main sponsor and certainly covered some of the organisation costs but I don't think they are so involved now.
i wouldn't waste time contacting them, they will not bother with a proper reply. I emailed them about some serious H&S issues I saw on one R4L several years ago and I got a reply basically saying it was a charity event and nobody expected anything much from it and everyone was a volunteer and here was where to donate more money if I wanted to ......
its had its day ... they haven't taken the chance to evolve it in anyway .... time for a rethink.
I went for a walk in Delamere Forest on Monday and picked up upwards of 50 pink feathers, and a fair few card strips saying "Race 4 Life" across them. Big charity events don't care about anything apart from the money they're making. If someone else has to clear up their mess that's fine. There were also lots of pink paint stripes near roots , rocks etc. I don't know how we make it round the parkrun every week!