Check out the results below for a local 5K. The winning times are nothing great, but...scroll down to the bottom. 13 people failed to break 1 hour. For a 5K. These folks range in age from 15 to 56, so it's not like we're talking about ivalids here. Of the 13, 9 were under 30. My question...why in God's name would anyone pay honest, hard earned money to enter a 5K and do it at 20 minute a mile pace?
http://www.runontexas.com/Results/Winter2006/RHSMarching4th2006/Marching4th5KOverall.HTM
People walk races. I can accept it for a 5K, but not for races of 10K or longer - think of the finish line volunteers!
Sometimes a race beneficiary can elicit a strong community response from unathletic people, for whom supporting the event or the cause is far more important that what may be the only time they "run" all year.
For instance, I would have done "Lindsay's Run" in NJ in 1999 even if I had 2 broken legs.
Joseph McVeigh wrote:
Sometimes a race beneficiary can elicit a strong community response from unathletic people, for whom supporting the event or the cause is far more important that what may be the only time they "run" all year.
For instance, I would have done "Lindsay's Run" in NJ in 1999 even if I had 2 broken legs.
Why is it necessary to enter a race to support a cause? If you believe in the beneficiary so strongly, just make a donation. A $20 donation straight to the charity will do them far more good than a $20 entry fee where race expenses take out a good chunk of it.
yeah. sometimes when old people just walk it so they can be part of the "cause", that's understandable. Not everyone is interested in running it as fast as they can. But when I see people who are obviously trying to run it and they still take over 40 minutes. That's a little ridiculous. If you are not in shape enough to a jog a 5k in under 40min and you are actually trying, that's pathetic. ESPECIALLY if you are under 30 years of age. I don't care if you've never run a 5k in your life. Anybody between the ages of 15 and 30 should be able to trudge along at 12min mile pace for 3.1 miles.
People are about to bash me wrote:
why in God's name would anyone pay honest, hard earned money to enter a 5K and do it at 20 minute a mile pace?
http://www.runontexas.com/Results/Winter2006/RHSMarching4th2006/Marching4th5KOverall.HTM
I agree with your general premise that a healthy, or even not so healthy person should be able to finish a 5k in less than an hour.
Keep in mind that they may have started late. The walkers have a different view of these events, they are socal events, it is not a race. In fact even the walk is secondary to other things, such as starting on time. If you have ever been to a 5k run/walk, you were probably lined up to run and never have seen what happens after the start, it takes a while for everyone to get going and some walkers take their time crossing the starting line. For many, there is no hurry to start the race. The clock stars but they don't, which an make their time seem even worse.
In short, walkers and runners are very different animals.
These results list chip times, so it accounts for when they cross the start line. All 13 had chip times of over 1 hour.
I blame Jeff Galloway.
Is this really the first time you've checked the results of a local 5K run?
Usually these are advertised as 5K Run/Walk... and some people just like to walk them (I'm not one of them).
Just try to understand that some people are different than you and they don't want to run it. They see it as a social event.
As long as they start out in the back of the race, I don't care and if the race organizers encourage it, you should not care either.
Oh, and some of these races also have separate Walker categories and give out trophies/medals/ribbons to 1-3rd in age groups for walkers.
the__Wiz wrote:
Is this really the first time you've checked the results of a local 5K run?
Usually these are advertised as 5K Run/Walk... and some people just like to walk them (I'm not one of them).
Just try to understand that some people are different than you and they don't want to run it. They see it as a social event.
As long as they start out in the back of the race, I don't care and if the race organizers encourage it, you should not care either.
Oh, and some of these races also have separate Walker categories and give out trophies/medals/ribbons to 1-3rd in age groups for walkers.
Fine, say they walk it. 20 min/mile pace is a SLOW walk. Especially for a young person, as most of those seem to be. My grandmother is 80 and she walks faster than that.
question asker wrote:
Why is it necessary to enter a race to support a cause? If you believe in the beneficiary so strongly, just make a donation. A $20 donation straight to the charity will do them far more good than a $20 entry fee where race expenses take out a good chunk of it.
Donors don't necessarily get a t-shirt. If you don't get the t-shirt, no one will know you donated, and no one will be impressed.
Maybe they have...
multiple sclerosis
cerebral palsy
Downe's syndrome
only one leg
ADHD
motion control shoes
no phys ed course and this race will help fund it...
From the difference between their gun and chip times, I'm glad to see they had the courtesy to line up behind the faster entrants.
The only reason you don't see more of that is big races where most people take over an hour don't time them. In the local RFTC only 10% of the people are timed with chips, the rest just walk and don't care about their time.
I'm directing a 10K in a few weeks where we have a non-timed 5K walk with it. We don't call the 5K a race and don't have "results". Most of those folks are doing it to show their support. The 10K is a timed race, but we do have a few people that walk that also.
You may wonder why people would pay money to walk a 5K and why they don't just mail-in a check. For many people these are both social and emotional events. The one I have coming up is for Hospice Care and the people that are there have had friends, family members, etc, in hospice care and have a strong bound with others that have had the same experience. Being there in person is a big part of it and the physical show of support also helps publicize the organization. The publicity of the event is often worth more to the organization than the money raised.
Keith: given your experience directing races for charity, could you provide an estimate of what percentage of the entry fee goes to the charity? Say the entry fee is $20. How much of that $20 typically goes to the charity? I can't imagine that it's very much. I've just always been curious about this.
Forget about the guys in the back running 20 min pace. The real crime here is the fact that nearly 300 people ran a road race and the winning time wouldn't be in the top 30 at an average high school xc race.
Also, I don't know about anyone else, but I'd be embarrased to be an 18 year old getting beat by a 56 year old.
People are about to bash me wrote:My question...why in God's name would anyone pay honest, hard earned money to enter a 5K and do it at 20 minute a mile pace?
Because they wanted to (and not a one of them wondered if it would bother you.
They were out of the house doing something while you were inside typing something critcal of them.
See something good.
Erbli wrote:
They were out of the house doing something.
That's debatable. 20 min. miles really isn't doing anything at all. Especially for someone under 30, as many of these were.
An unrelated question wrote:
Keith: given your experience directing races for charity, could you provide an estimate of what percentage of the entry fee goes to the charity? Say the entry fee is $20. How much of that $20 typically goes to the charity? I can't imagine that it's very much. I've just always been curious about this.
On the races I've worked with most of the "entry fee" goes towards expenses. (No, not a RD salary) The entry fee covers the police, insurance, timing, food, t-shirts, equipment rental, etc. Sometimes things are donated as "in-kind" but insurance, police, etc, never are.
After you get past 200-300 people then more of the fee goes to the organization. If you have something like chip rental or data entry (normally charged by the person) it'll take more people before the entry fees cover the fixed costs. In case you're wondering, my take is $100.
While it may sounds like the charity is getting ripped off, the participants bring the sponsors, and the sponsors bring the money. Also most charity events have an "entry fee" and also collect additional money. For example the Hospice event will bring in over $100,000 but only take in $14,000 in entry fees. That extra money is donations and sponsorship.
It all depends on the amount of money raised in sponsorship. Sad but true, the $20 entry fee barely pays for putting the race on after paying for permits, cops, t-shirts, and finish line timing.
If a race advertises it's for charity and they don't have some big donors, then it's likely the organization putting on the race is loosing money.
Thanks for the insight. It just seems that, and I'm sure I'm missing something here, if I were with a charity group, and I was looking to raise funds, there would be a much easier and more effective way than putting on a race. It would appear that the financial return on the effort invested would be much higher doing a dinner or something.