Is it wrong to run in road races if you don't pay the entry fee?

It's stealing, plain and simple.

Many races have to get insurance, I do one which I get USAT&F insurance and it says it only covers registered runners.

I'd pay the fee...it is the right thing to do.

Some of us were discussing the issue of banditing races at a cookout last weekend. Bandits come in many varieties. You want to be the type who inflicts the least discomfort on the race director. Banditing is in bad taste if you use the course, the water, run through the chute and stick around to nosh at the post-race party. Best advice I'd give is to talk to the race director before running and tell them your intention. If all you are looking for is a time trial most directors will be happy to let you know what your finish time would have been.

If you don't want to pay a Jackson, at least pony up a Lincoln for the privilege of using the course, police protection and water.

stealing you think so?

Ok so it cost 20bucks to race, it is on a public street that you would be able to run on any other day, so the money pays for what the awards, timing, aid stations and traffic control? So really the only thing that you might be getting on race day as a bandit is the traffic control. The insurance argument is foolish since you aren't covered by the policy. So I guess your stealing traffic control since the road is paid for with public funds, oh and I guess you might be stealing the time it took to measure the course but then if you ran the course the next day you would be stealing the measurement anyway or does the fee pay for a year of running on a public street. Point is this Bandits happen and if you want to call it stealing then so be it but what exactly your stealing I'm unsure of. Now you would be stealing water if you use the aid stations but do you need that in a 5k?

Let the "Gosh your stealing!" comments begin.

Many races in large cities also have to get a parade permit and pay big bucks for the police, ect Thus, the roads are close for the purpose of the race and is open only to registered runners. Go ahead and run down the street after the race is over...it is open to the public...

Pay the fee or don't run.

Yes you are stealing from everyone else who pays.

And if more prople ran without paying....there wouldn't be races around in the future..

Interesting on the Parade Permit issue.

However you can't make an argument that a bandit is stealing from everyone else that paid since they have not taken anything from those people and that includes services provided by those paying people, since the runners aren't providing a service. Now if you caught that you could make a fairly strong argument for the theft of services from the organizers.

Now for the comment about no races if more people bandited, I'm not sure if that is really true. I would make the argument that races generally break even or a little above, now hold on before you blame the bandits for that. So in general they are not profit driven unless they are about fundraising and not racing. So taking that into consideration I would say that if more people bandited you might not have the offical fundraisers but more races or at least lower prices.

Respectfully I see your point but the average person, and by that I mean Joe Blow taxpayer, isn't going to say that your stealing anything if you don't take anything. This is assuming the bandit simply runs from point A to point B, does not go into the finish chute.

I guess you would also sneak into the moives without paying, use the public golf course without paying, go to the zoo without paying, ect.

You shouldn't be on the course unless you pay.

If you have trouble with the money issue...see if you can help out with the race before or after and see if they will give you a free entry.

Fuzzy, go help with a road race and see everything it takes to put on a good race....then come back here and post

would it be stealing if you hooked up to cable and didn't pay?? You bet your ass...

If you are truly running "a few time trials", do them on the track.

You want the race, however, because it has value to you. That value results from the efforts and costs incurred by the race organizers.

They request a fee, you need to honor it!

as a race director you have to discourage this...if something would happend to a unregistered runner and you didn't discourage it...it could be your butt..

If you don't want your time to be listed as you are not in shape...pay the fee and use a fake name

Each of the afore mentioned areas are either private property or semi-private property and require fees for every use, thus distinguishable from a race course. And I don't have a problem running on golf courses but I'm guessing from your hardline stance on fee payment that we should pay to run around the golf course as well.

Where our two arguments differ is on one fact: whether or not the course is closed to the public at large. I take the view based on my experience that it is not closed because of the number of times that I have paid for a race and not had the police stop traffic as I come through an intersection. From your tone it sounds like you have never had that problem.

I'm sorry but I just have to ask if the bandit runs outside of the cones in the lane that isn't closed is that stealing? It is not part of the course and since you are taking the hard line that if you don't pay you don't get to be on the course, then it doesn't fit in your definition of stealing. And then what about the sidewalk?

Of course it's ok. We've all done it. Only with the advent of the internet has it become scandalous.

HEY MAN, WAY TO THINK OF AN ORIGINAL THREAD. I THINK THERE ARE LESS THAN 20 OF THESE A MONTH, JACKASS.

ok, so i'm not trying to condone anything here but.... just don't cross the finish line, and stay out of people's way, you should be fine.

funny story ( i think), i run this race in redondo beach in '01, banditing since i don't even have 28bucks for an entry fee. i pull out 50 meters to go, would have been second. turns out, had i found someone to loan me 28 bucks, i would have picked up 250bucks for second. ah well.

CH.

Fuzzy, fell free to run were ever you would like, sidewalk, ect. But, don't run bandit in races.

In many cases race directors and races pay to use the streets for their event (parade permit, insurance, police, ect). Only registered runners should be out there during the time of the event. I agree if more people didn't pay entry fees there would be fewer races.

I help a local running club direct a few races. If you don't like a race don't run it. Find races in your area put on by runners or running clubs that do a good job. Better, yet, get your friends to put on a race and see what the race directors go thru.

If you run a race and don't pay you are cheating the sport.

Surprise! wrote:

Of course it's ok. We've all done it. Only with the advent of the internet has it become scandalous.

Don't throw out the "we have all done it" bullshit. I have NEVER bandited a race. So try another argument.