Race Entry fees

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Comments

  • MillsyMillsy ✭✭✭
    The Tidworth 10k. Although it doesn't do any proper timing and if you want to do a proper warm up you can't get anywhere near the front at the start which is a pain. So rather than spend money on the entry fee I may just invest it in chocolate and run around the block.
  • JindaleeJindalee ✭✭✭
    hmm chocolate sounds good, or cake - even better image



    as for race entry fees. It would depend on how much I want to do the event. I did enter a HM for about ??30 but I don't think I would enter a race through a charity committing to raise sponsorship of several 100??
  • Bugger. Tidworth is a three hour drive away. I think that would negate the chocolate in the goody bag.



    I might move house to be closer. That makes sense.
  • Arden 9 yesterday for £9; mountains of free cake and bananas at the finish. I think the organisers k&dac are in competition with Sphinx ac to find out who are best cake bakers. The running is a secondary consideration. 

    (Sphinx 5 - £6 btw)

  • Be happy you're not a triathlete! Ironman races average 300-400 euros entry fee and generally fill up on the day the website opens for entries! Olympic distance tri I'm doing next weekend was 55 euros to enter, but the goody bag has a very nice bike shirt.

  • The high price for triathlons is to keep the fast young whipper snappers away so the mamils don't look too shabby image

  • Sussex Runner (NLR) wrote (see)

    The high price for triathlons is to keep the fast young whipper snappers away so the mamils don't look too shabby image

    image

  • Mostly I do smaller events, which tend to be cheaper. I'd usually expect to pay no more than £15 for a 10K and no more than £25 for a HM. Distance to the event and the reviews on here are usually the biggest factors for which races I do.

    My friends seem to go for larger events, which tend to cost more, so I do those occasionally. My friends tend to only do 1 or 2 races per year, so I don't think cost is a significant factor for them.

  • I only do a few races a year, and most of those are local ones where the price is cheap and you get a reasonable goody bag, although as long as I get a medal or some kind of momento I'm happy! 

    Doing cheaper local ones does mean that I'm happy to splurge every year or two on something bigger, more expensive and away from home, which I like to do for the atmosphere and just because I enjoy them.  Mind you I'm a slow runner so I probably enjoy the big races more than those that are fast and just feel held up by the amount of people.  I would also add that I start right near the back and do keep over to the side so I'm not holding up the speedy ones! image

    I guess really that what you'll pay depends on what you want out of racing.  For me I've found a balance between the cheaper local races and the big expensive ones, but I'm not so serious about it some runners are.  I like to have something to aim for throughout the year and the local races provide me with an opportunity to see if I can beat my previous time at the event, whereas the big ones are just for fun and the atmosphere. 

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    I mostly do local races, maybe some up to fifty miles away, nothing I'd have to stay over night for.

    I did the North Downs 30k yesterday - £21, excellent organisation, marshalling and free tea and cake at the end image  There was a t-shirt, medal and a towel and some snacks in a goody bag, although I'm not fussed about any of those things.

    There are plenty of races that are reasonably priced, and I certainly wouldn't pay 41 quid for any race.

    Two local clubs put on 5k races which are £2 to enter image

  • Millsy1977 wrote (see)
    It was far too crowded for my liking. Far too many people overestimating how fast they are and being too slow for their pen. I wasn't inspired by most of the course. It was also a pain to get to by public transport(which was ridiculously overcrowded)
    There is usually a train that goes from Salisbury straight to Portsmouth but for some reason not one to get you there in time for the start on this day do many changed required.

    If you live locally it may be worth it but I've found my Local 10 miler is 100 times better and about 25% of the price.

    +1

    I mainly do smaller local races but did do GSR last year to see what all the fuss is about with these mass participation 'atmosphere' events. I won't be doing it again any time soon, it had its plus points but not enough for me to justify the price, and there are plenty of other local 10 mile races which I've enjoyed more - Ryde, Alton, Salisbury, Lordshill - at a fraction of the price.

  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭

    Just paid £11 to enter Penny Lane Striders 10k in Liverpool.

     

  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭

     Middle Aged Man In Lycra

     

  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    I have just paid £33 to enter the Birmingham half. I think that's the most I have paid. The odd thing was there was no England athletics discount and my recent membership renewal letter said I receive a minimum £2 discount on entry fees of all uk athletics registered races!

  • GraemeKGraemeK ✭✭✭

    US prices are expensive, I had an email flyer for a 5k the other week at $40, no chip timing. They considered it a bargain and thought that £30 odd for a UK marathon was Billy Bulls***. However I won the 10k race at the same conference in 2011, that was $40, despite getting lost, not having my racing shoes and getting nowhere near a pb. Such was the quality but a win's a win and I'll never win a race again so maybe $40 was good value.

  • Is it true that New York Marathon has a policy of charging far more for Johnny Foreigners than they do their own. Would be illegal over here wouldn't it?

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    I believe the London Marathon charges Johnny Foreigners a great deal more than UK entrants.

     

  • That really isn't cricket is it. How can they charge an EU citizen from France(for example) more than an English one. I can only think that postage could be taken into account but not much else.

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    I've just had a look back over the races that I have entered this year, and those that I plan to.

    The most expensive was £21 for a 30k race, the cheapest are £2 on-the-night-entries for local 5k races off road.

    The others vary between £10 and £15 for 10k, 10 mile and half marathon distance.  The average over 23 races is £9.

    I think that's pretty good value image

  • mrandyyumrandyyu ✭✭✭

    An hour before this year's London Marathon, I got talking to an older Norwegian chap that obtained his guaranteed place through their equivalent of Sports Tours International. He paid approximately £100 at the time which I thought was pretty damn good to know you're 100% running in the race.

  • Very good for him but also very wrong in my opinion. 

  • CindersCinders ✭✭✭

    DT19 above says he didn't get his £2 discount entering the Birmingham half, is this a Bupa event?  Just wondering why some races offer the discount and Bupa ones don't?

  • So, the general consensus is that GSR is waaaaay too expensive! Thank you for your comments. I now have a much better idea of what's worth paying for, and what's not!  I think I will be entering those that are fun, rather than "serious", although I guess all races have that element, it is after all what we train for (albeit, in my case I'm never going to lead the pack!).  It's good to have a general idea of what to pay out for as some of these well advertised races are certainly costly compared to others. 

    Cheers all!

  • WRONG! The price does not reflect what is fun and what is serious. Good club races tend to be great value for money and can be as much fun or as serious as the runners want it to be. 

  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    Cinders- Birmingham half is a bupa event. It is though uk athletics licensed and my understanding is to get that they must give uk licensed athletes at least a £2 discount. I may e-mail them to query why they are exempt from this.

  • NykieNykie ✭✭✭

    I pay about a tenner for a 10k. Most I've paid is booking a sprint tri for £70, although I refused to pay £61.50 for the Brownlees' super-sprint tri. 

  • Point taken Sussex Runner (didn't mean to make you soooo angry lol). Perhaps I mean the organisers are more serious, as in seriously making money! I'm stil wondering why my friend suggested it as she's usually quite thrifty and always gets a bargain, can't imagine her paying that much. Mmmm, guess I'll just ask her!

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