I entered the Lichfield 10k for this Sunday 10th September. I have made the run before on a number of occasions, and I was looking forward very much to the event this year.
But yesterday afternoon I tore my calf muscle playing football; and I will not be fit to run on Sunday, so I asked the organisers for either a refund, or to defer my entry to next year. They refused point blank. I can understand how refunds may not be possible (many fixed costs already committed) but why not the deferral? This is not the cheapest race at £19 to enter, and I feel that I've been ripped off. And refusal to allow deferring entries is NOT in their terms and conditions.
We are all enthusiasts, a bit mad to punish ourselves this way, and this has encouraged some organisers to take advantage by banning OTD entries.
I will never enter the Lichfield 10k again, nor any other event that does NOT support OTD entries. I hope that you might do the same, and that sites like this introduce a filter which shows ONLY OTD entries for potential runners.
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OTD entries are a huge admin nightmare for race organisers and in the past events have had delayed starts as more than expected runners turned up and they are queuing for car park or to enter the race. It would also make it difficult to predict the number of runners, so how many medals do you order etc. What happens if more runners turn up than you have a race permit for, if you allow extra runners to take part you are invalidating your race insurance.
Injury is unfortunately what we have to put up with in distance running and sometimes that means losing a race fee.
Did you offer to marshal on the day to help out in return for a deferral or just out of goodwill? I think not.
On the day entries are a pain. As well as the problems Shades mentions, runners quite reasonably want a set of accurate results as soon as possible after the race. If you take a large number of on the day entries it's impractical to enter all the data required to be able to award team and age group prizes.
I'm interested though about deferrals, would you be interested in paying slightly more for race entries if it included more flexibility. My suspicion is that most runners wouldn't want to pay the extra. If you feel otherwise, I think that Strava premium has insurance included that will refund race entries, check whether it meets your requirements.
The Strava premium insurance is a good idea for those that want it.
I just accept that I will probably DNS a couple of races a year and if I only lose a race fee, then so be it. I've had to DNS races further afield too and sometimes have lost a hotel cost if I've opted for a cheaper no cancellation option, in the case of flights I usually pay to switch them to another event later in the year. I accept that injury is a part of running. If the race is local I will offer to help out on the day even if I'm injured and need to keep off my feet, they can always find something for someone to do even sitting down.
OTD entries are becoming increasingly rare as most races these days seem to sell out, so they're not even offered, which suits the organisers as OTD are a pain for them.
So, enter in advance, but its just bad luck if you can't make it, and by the look of how many numbers aren't claimed before a run, you're not alone!
Only the race organisers could give you the figures but I think some allow about 25% no-shows when deciding on a race limit, and they may factor that "free" entry fee into their costings. But on that scale refunds are definitely not on the cards!
You're right 25% is about the average of DNS's, it's increased since we've had online entries as it's so easy to sit at your PC and enter a race without the faff of cheque writing and stamps etc. Also races that are likely to be oversubscribed you sometimes have to enter not really 100% sure if you will be there.
That seems a strange double negative way of looking at it.
I assume deferrals aren't mentioned at all?
In which case safe to assume it will not be allowed.
They don't explicitly have to state "no deferrals" because it is not the norm or a default situation.
I've already entered a few races for 2018