Race Fees

StylishStylish ✭✭✭
Race Fees are getting ridiculously high that I seriously don't think they're worth doing. A local (Ish) Half Marathon for ??49!!! Not only that but the goody bags are full of rubbish. In some cases the t-shirt is extra. Being ripped off! What do others think?
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  • MillsyMillsy ✭✭✭
    There does seem to be more events / organisers that charge very high prices but you can just vote with your feet and sign up for the many club run events that are a lot cheaper. I think the Wokingham half was les than 25 quid for a very fast course with a top quality field. My local 50 has just been advertised at 27.
  • Plenty of good value races out there. Just dont enter the expensive ones?



    Coniston 14 is 25 quid.



    Just shop around.
  • There are some expensive ones...Local ones use volunteers and do should be cheaper....Problem with road halves is that they are getting too hard for local clubs to run because of traffic and lack of any police healp due to cuts etc....So many have gone off road

  • Some races do seem to have progressive fee scales so it might be best to simply book earlier if you can commit. My local event the Gloucester City Marathon does and is a good price at the moment until the end of feb as it doesn't run till August.

  • MuttleyMuttley ✭✭✭

    Agreed, Stylish. Some of my local races are getting a bit pricey. The main factor seems to be whether it's for mass participation and organised by a corporate outfit or smaller scale and organised by a running club or small company (we have a local husband-and-wife outfit called Purple Patch who do a lot of excellent and fairly-priced races), or for fundraising by a school or the rotary table etc.

    Here in the Thames Valley I'd expect to pay £20 or so for a 10K and £30 or so for a half.

    The Reading Half is up soon, at £40. I could cycle to it but on the same day is the Fleet Half, at £27. The train fare is £13 so the total is the same. I'll be doing the Fleet.

    And as Millsy says, the Wokingham is cheap.

    I guess it's a case of shopping around voting with your feet.

     

  • 247 events are organising a 10m run in Richmond Park (you know, a park, its free to run in).

    Well, they are charging £44! They hope to attract 10,000 runners, which obviously equates to £440,000...........

    No ta, not for me.

  • Depends what support they have to lay on- so for a long trail race with aid stations, transport to/ from the start/ setting up remote checkpoints- fair enough. But for a park, or on non- closed roads, where it is just a few water stations, I don't think it is reasonable. I think I heard that the GNR was pretty extortionate this year- that is really just cashing in on the publicity they get, if that's true. Supporting your local/ cheaper races is obviously the way to go, but you'll almost certainly pay through the nose for any big event.

  • Fell running is the way forward. Many races are less than £4 image

  • Murdoch wrote (see)

    247 events are organising a 10m run in Richmond Park (you know, a park, its free to run in).

    You can run there for free but there are fees to pay if you want to use the park for a running event.  For a commercial company there's a fee of £2.75 per head, plus a 'Disruption Charge' of up to £20k.  Granted that on its own isn't much out of the potential revenues from entry fees, but the park isn't free for commercial use.

  • Cheerful Dave wrote (see)
    Murdoch wrote (see)

    247 events are organising a 10m run in Richmond Park (you know, a park, its free to run in).

    You can run there for free but there are fees to pay if you want to use the park for a running event.  For a commercial company there's a fee of £2.75 per head, plus a 'Disruption Charge' of up to £20k.  Granted that on its own isn't much out of the potential revenues from entry fees, but the park isn't free for commercial use.

    Thanks, that interesting to know. Still extortionate compared with others, Silverstone Half is nearly half the price for example, at £25. And you can't just turn up and run there without a certain probability of being run over...

  • I was looking at running the Manchester Marathon however on looking at the cost of £50 I have now been put off. I think this is expensive.

  • In the scheme of things its not outrageous. It's a lot more expense to put on a marathon than say a 10k or half.



    I think Chester Marathon is 42 at the moment but it goes up nearer the time.



    For the cost of the marathon - you get about 4 months of training for free. Bargain !



    Is the Great British 10k still a thing ? How much was that ?
  • MillsyMillsy ✭✭✭
    Not sure if it still exists Cougie, but I think it used to be about 50 quid.
  • Now THAT was a rip off. And yet it went full every year. Amazing.
  • Go CazGo Caz ✭✭✭

    The British 10K seems to have been taken over by Virgin Sport. No price for it yet but Virgin are also taking over the Hackney Half this year, which currently costs £48 to enter, rising to £58 after March 1. Oh, and they are not called races any more, they are 'festivals'.

  • NessieNessie ✭✭✭

    I've entered 2 marathons and a half for this year so far. 

     

    £28.50 for the half, £48 and £55 for the marathons.  I've another marathon to enter which is £45.

     

    £49 for a half seems steep, and the British 10k at £50 was just laughable (but it was better value than the London Marathon, and soooo much better organised, and the London Marathon people were crooks, and you got to see so many London landmarks and Michael wotsisface was wunnerful even though he was uncontactable and..and...and...)

  • TTTT ✭✭✭

    And I thought it was just me! Cambridge half is £32 with the tee shirt extra. Yes I know to shut the roads in Cambridgeshire is expensive but it does seem excessive. Then again the Paris marathon is 115 euro but that is the capital city and the security is amazing (all run by the organisers of the tour de france). 

  • Go Caz wrote (see)

    The British 10K seems to have been taken over by Virgin Sport. No price for it yet but Virgin are also taking over the Hackney Half this year, which currently costs £48 to enter, rising to £58 after March 1. Oh, and they are not called races any more, they are 'festivals'.

    image. Nah. That is a piss take. Not quite in the 'Run for Chocolate' 5k ball park - but getting there.

  • At least then you get some chocolate.

    https://www.virtualrunneruk.com/product/racing-10-ten-day-run-streak/

    I dont know how they manage to get people to pay them for this:

    Racing 10 – Ten Day Run Streak

    Complete a minimum of 1km for 10 consecutive days in February to earn your racing medal!

    £12.00       I just dont get it.   But they (claim they) get the numbers somehow!   I just dont get itimage  
  • Me neither, LFSF, but then maybe that's why they're the ones making money out of selling cheap medals at £12 a pop and we're the ones shaking our heads in disbelief.

    If people get motivated enough by that kind of thing to get out the door then fair enough I suppose.  They're getting what they paid for, unlike the entrants to the British 10k every year.

    Best value has to be the London Marathon, especially if you stick your medal & tshirt on ebay and make three times what entry cost you.

    Not that I've ever done that, of course.

  • As lots of others have already said: stick to low key club organised events, they are usually immense good value when compared to races put together for profit such as the Human Race & British 10k crooks and others out there

    The more people name and shame them the better the chance that someone from their end sees it and grows some common sense - we can only hope

    For me, if I'm paying much more than £1 per mile, I'm not interested - stick to what works for you and these crooks will have to stop charging ridiculous fees

  • TTTT ✭✭✭

    Taken the advice of people on here and entered the East Hull 20 miles, £22. Not quite a pound a mile but near enough for me! 

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    As lots of others have already said: stick to low key club organised events, they are usually immense good value when compared to races put together for profit such as the Human Race & British 10k crooks and others out there

    The more people name and shame them the better the chance that someone from their end sees it and grows some common sense - we can only hope

    For me, if I'm paying much more than £1 per mile, I'm not interested - stick to what works for you and these crooks will have to stop charging ridiculous fees

    With a £1 per mile policy, I wonder if you would actually be able to do many races in the country that aren't club subsidised race series/league fare...
  • Wissey Half in Norfolk is £14 but another local 10k is £17 (earlybird) thereafter £20!! I cannot justify paying so much even with the so called 'free' t-shirt (like we haven't got enough of them!) I pay my own fuel to marshall my clubs 10 miler and my time is also free and yet we made over £2k on it. Clubs surely don't need it and it has spoilt the joy of competing for me.
  • SilkTorkSilkTork ✭✭✭
    There was an article on marathon costs a couple of years ago in the Guardian. On the whole we get it cheap here in the UK compared to other countries.  

    The popularity of running, and the awareness by some individuals and charities that money can be made out of runners, is what drives up the price.  There are still decent club runs going on, though I note that increasingly clubs are finding it hard to get volunteers to organise the events so organisation is being done by professional companies, and that puts up the price. 

    The article:

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/datablog/2015/mar/17/running-costs-what-are-the-worlds-most-expensive-marathons


    It tends to be the major events that are expensive, and for those you are paying for more than just running a half marathon distance, you are paying for the atmosphere of the event itself. Big events have bigger atmospheres. 

    Today I paid £20 to run in a local charity 5k.  It seems a little steep for a 5K in a country park, but I did pay on the day, which pushed the price up from £15. I got all day parking which would normally cost £7. I got a technical t-shirt, a medal, a banana, a bottle of water, and an energy bar. I also had the atmosphere of the event, and St John's there in case anything went wrong. And I had the option of doing a 10k or 15k for the same price. It was a lovely little event, it raised money for charity, and it got me out running again after a long lay off. So, for me, the £20 was worth it. 

    Even with the increasing cost of races, running is still cheaper than joining a gym, and for me much more rewarding.  
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    I did a half marathon yesterday, Tavy13, beautiful course, faultless organisation, free parking.  A medal, banana and a bottle of water at the finish.   Price £9 affiliated, £10 unaffiliated.  Terrific value.
    Of course, organised by a running club not a money grabbing events company.
  • TopSecTopSec ✭✭✭
    I spend a lot of time in Texas and run a number of races here but God they are expensive.  I did a half a few weeks ago and it was $108 to enter plus an online booking fee of $15!!  I didn't enter but bought a number (legally) off someone else for half the price.  Marathon last weekend was $85.  They are cheaper by about 20% if you enter months before but I never know if I'll be here so can't do that.  Houston marathon is about $130

    I'm always bleating on to my running mates here how cheap UK is compared to here.
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    TopSec - that is expensive, must be a lot of runners in the US that never race then.   It's either to cover expensive insurance costs or costs to close and police the roads?   Or just money grabbing events companies!
    Hope all is well with you?
  • Dr RobertDr Robert ✭✭✭
    I hardly dare to put my head above the parapet, but... one local running event company has just gone under partly because they couldn't charge what they needed to be able to keep going (an amazing portfolio of races has been lost to the running community). I think that we all need to get used to paying a bit more for quality races.

    Generally, 99% of runners have no idea what goes into organising and putting on a race... so I wrote an online article explaining what does go into it and where the money goes (and my own 'quite expensive' races have raised nearly £50,000 for charity over the last nearly 15 years):

    http://www.trionium.com/organise-a-race.html

    Essentially, if a race seems too expensive for you to enter, then don't enter it. If you do enter it, and after you've run it you feel that didn't get your money's worth, then by all means, don't enter it again.

    Instead, go for a run in the park...

    ...or even better, organise your own race!
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    Dr Robert - which running event company was that?
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