Goody bags in races

Following the email below we got to thinking about races and goody bags, they are often a disappointment but we want to know the best ones you've had and where you got them: 

"I'm 11 and my mum and dad buy RW! I find it really cool that races have goody bags. What are the top 10?"

 

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Comments

  • If you'd done a search you'd see there are plenty of threads entitled 'Good bag'....do we need another one?image

  • The best races are the ones that don't rip you to give you a plastic bag full of tat, and a  cheap T shirt 

  • I don't really see the point if some of your race fee goes on the goody bag.



    Would runners world ever do a feature on races that are poorly organised and a rip off?
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    Going against the flow here and disregarding whether I would rather save some cash, I recently ran the Kenilworth half. Entry was £18. My goody bag came with a decent quality long sleeve tech t shirt (which I needed anyway) an sis gel, a snickers, bottle of lucazade sport and a packet of mentos. When I was leaving they had so many medium tops left they gave me a second. That's probably the best one I have had. 

  • I think the fact that it was an eleven-year-old asking, tells you all you need to know!

    Goody bags are for kids parties.

     

  • The best one is clearly the Stockport 10. Even I know that and I've never run it. As for race fees going on the goody bag, I wouldn't mind if the organisers had purchased, say, a nice cereal bar to put in it, but I'd expect all the other stuff in there to be exciting and unexpected sponsor freebies, e.g. some random prunes (or not).

  • Snap!Snap! ✭✭✭

    I like goody bags with tech tees in and mugs. I like tea almost as much as I like tee's that don't cost me £40, so actually I think goodie bags are pretty good value. I haven't had to buy a tech tee in 10 years as I get them all free. Best mug I've ever got was for the Greensand Marathon, best goodie bag full stop was leith hill half from which I got a tech tee that I still run in and a laser cut resin paperweight of exCeptional quality.

  •  I love technical t-shirts and a water and a chocolate bar......

    I loved the recent Tuska tri.t-shirt and a few bits an pieces and some P20 proper sunlotion.....ecellent

     i love things a little different like slate coasters and tea toels with the route on them......and of course christmas puddingsimage

  • I don't want anything, although a fry up might be nice... but nothing like the usual goody bag fair.  Straight in the bin, save the medal which my daughter gets.

    My missus on the other hand, loves all that crap and would choose a race based on the goody bag.  To persuade her to do a marathon, I had to come up with a custom goody bag.  Got mags, chocs, some stuff from Lush and a few other bits which I can't remember.

    That's the best goody bag I've ever seen image

  • MK Marathon cost a fortune, had an ok T-Shirt, a mars bar and a banana.

  • NykieNykie ✭✭✭

    I actually agree with KK about the making your topics stickies. If you start interesting threads, they'll stay on the first page. If not, they deserve to sink without trace. Give it a whirl. 

  • booktrunk wrote (see)

    MK Marathon cost a fortune, had an ok T-Shirt, a mars bar and a banana.

    lol the tshirt was horrific, such an ugly shirt. 

  • Snap!Snap! ✭✭✭

    I think RW are well within their rights to make 'em stickies. It's their forum. Assuming they want to get feedback from as many people as possible I'd say it was sensible.

    Otherwise all we'd see is the same comments denigrating RW and the way they do things. I doubt most users visit the site every day - given the vitriolic responses we see here maybe 'most users' have already left the room.

    You might not think it interesting, but someone's written a question and RW are taking the time to garner opinions. I think you'd do the same as a publisher. And just for the record, I don't subscribe to RW because it's not relevant for me and it's repetitive, but some people clearly like it.

  • how dare RW set the agenda rather than KK!!!

  • The best goody bags I've had have come from Purbeck in Dorset.  Last year I ran the Studland Stampede, we got a bag of full sized Lush products, a National Trust baseball cap, Dorset flapjack and a medal, followed by a free massage.  I ran the Purbeck Marathon on Sunday, we got a tub of Purbeck ice-cream as we finished, and a goody bag containing a bottle of local beer, an apple, a sample box of tea bags, a tech t-shirt in the correct size, a cereal bar and a medal. I also won a bottle of wine as a spot prize. Love running down there as the sponsors always come up trumps image

  • Snap!Snap! ✭✭✭

    Must have been a very small masseuse.

  • My worst was the Greater Manchester, wherein lay a sad banana and a lot of paper, offering nothing but ads. Not even a bottle of pop.

  • Not a goody bag per se, but the Tadworth 10 has a different memento each year, which makes it interesting.  Last year if I remember correctly was an insulated sandwich bag, the year before was a polar buff.

  • Apparently Denon AV are giving away 100 free wireless headphones to people running the Dublin Marathon ... thats a pretty decent goodie bag!

     

    http://www.denon.eu/pink_uk

  • Best proper goody bag I have had was from the Women's Running 10k. The bag itself is one of those string jobbies so ideal for mucky trainers and a towel. Inside was a nice medal, good quality t shirt, samples of tissue, a little zip pouch thing, cereal bar, energy drink and some other bits and bobs. And we got cup of tea and a cake at the end. Excellent value.

    As for other mementoes we get some great ones here in Yorkshire - slate coasters, mugs, pottery, shoe bags, and a LOT of chocolate.

  • I get a medal at the end i'm happy. I have done two marathons this year. The reward was just getting through the finishing line, and shaking hands with my fellow runners who were there for that time in place. Goody bags, never interest me. I might get a t-shirt which I will happily pay for, if I am proud of my result, but I never expect it.

  • I remember my first race, a proper 'beginners' one, and they promised a 'goody bag'. I was expecting all kinds of things, and was rather disappointed that I only got a bottle of water and a bananaimage

    Now, it is nice to have a memento. But I never put my medals on display or even in a particular place. I have got enough mugs, and enough t-shirts. It is definitely the race that is entered for its own sake.

  • Whitesands half and full marathons : T shirt, bowl of Cawl and pint of beer! Oh yes, we know how to do it in St Davids!

  • Had some interesting ones in triathlon races - Oettingen sprint gave us bicycle lights. Rothsee a quality cycling shirt, there's a local duathlon which gives out baskets of fruit and veg. which is a rather novel idea and useful too.

  • Worst was probably the Whipsnade ZSL 10km, an expensive race (though admission to the zoo was included) the goodybag was a bottle of water and a load of flyers for their sponsers.

    Best either Hard Way Round the Rock on Portland, cheap to enter and a nice engraved glass instead of a medal or a 10km in Hertford last year - the bag was a cloth one that is big enough to use for shopping, an engraved shot glass and a drinks bottle which I'm also still using

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