There must be a lot of rich guys out there.
Me, I'm a working man and mostly proud of it but slightly ashamed that I couldn't even dream of throwing away $185 to have the right to stand in a 45 minute port-a-loo line before beginning to run on taxpayer funded public streets.
Everything there is inflated. Place is run by democrats, the same idiots who think $15 minimum wage will cure all that ails.
Mostly 1%ers in the SF region. $185 is pocket change.
Then don't run it and find another race to run.
The public streets are taxpayer funded, but a marathon held on them requires street closures. This involves permit costs and paying police officers to enforce this. If you don't like it, organize a marathon for super cheap held on open city roads.
That's standard fee for a marathon these days.
google works well wrote:
That's standard fee for a marathon these days.
No way. There's really good marathons for under $70.00. Seattle Marathon (not the R&R) for example had great early bird prices and it is very well organized.
$185 is outratgeous.
Sid Luft wrote:
There must be a lot of rich guys out there.
Me, I'm a working man and mostly proud of it but slightly ashamed that I couldn't even dream of throwing away $185 to have the right to stand in a 45 minute port-a-loo line before beginning to run on taxpayer funded public streets.
Well, the elite times are pretty modest, if you qualify they'll waive the fee (or at least they used to...). Of course, then you'll pretty much be running by yourself for 2 hours.
Old Man Runner wrote:
Then don't run it and find another race to run.
The public streets are taxpayer funded, but a marathon held on them requires street closures. This involves permit costs and paying police officers to enforce this. If you don't like it, organize a marathon for super cheap held on open city roads.
Of course it costs a lot of money to hire the militia to forbid those who paid for the road to be able to use it for a few hours. The richer the area, the bigger the bribe has to be.
Race probably cost $5 in the 70s.
It's really gotten out of hand. Everywhere I look it seems like marathons and half marathons are charging $100+.
How much is that whole Disney crap now?
Old Kids wrote:
It's really gotten out of hand. Everywhere I look it seems like marathons and half marathons are charging $100+.
How much is that whole Disney crap now?
But if you do the "Goofy" at Disney, you get like 38 medals or something.
It's $185 because people will pay $185. You're not entitled to a cheap marathon event just because it's on public roads.
But the photographs are free.
Old Kids wrote:
It's really gotten out of hand. Everywhere I look it seems like marathons and half marathons are charging $100+.
How much is that whole Disney crap now?
The Disney races are even worse. No street closures = no permits or other police presence. They just charge $200 because they can. But it's what the market will bear; the Disney races typically sell out in a day or less.
The Disney Avengers half marathon is $195 (early reg.)...and its companion 5k is g*ddamn $70. And even though the races are in November, they sold out in April. The kids races (which, where I'm from, are ALWAYS free) are $20.
I make a decent living, but I've significantly cut down the number of races I do. The average 5k/10k around here is $35-40, and the average HM is $70. I'm at the point where I'd rather go for a long run in the woods than deal with the hassles and costs of a race.
What is NYC nowadays? Must be close to $300. What a joke.
Not a Coach wrote:
But the photographs are free.
This.
Last time I checked, brightroom/marathonphotos.com had a cost structure of something like this:
one picture: $30
two pictures: $50
three pictures: $60
five pictures: $75
So if the average runner gets 5 pictures taken that will come out to a $75 value.
$185 - $75 = $110
I think that is a fair offer.
Wasn't Chicago Marathon registration $185 this year? Not saying it's fair but as another poster said if 45,000 people are willing to pay that much why would the marathon charge any less
but then the photographs aren't ACTUALLY free. they're fake free. masked by reg price. in fact, it's like forcing you into buying them........ great.
also yeah, even the subseed times are easy to qualify. subseed = $40 off full, $30 off half. (see you in the subseeded 2nd Half corral...)
In many cities, police and other public employees who are needed for marathons (traffic control equipment, street sweepers, etc.) have not had raises in years. Instead, they are given better and better deals for working special events. Overtime, double overtime, 4-8 hour minimums, minimum number of supervising sergeants for so many officers needed, and so on. Also, many cities have kept taxes flat and tried to manage budget shortfalls by jacking up fees. Sound permit, park rental/usage fee, health permit, special events street permit and anything else needed will see fees go up year after year. And then there is the freaking marathon "swag" wars. Every event thinks that they have to have a giant multi colored medal, participant and finisher shirts/jackets etc. and all kinds of other useless junk (although the finisher beer mug at the Houston marathon is very much worth any extra charge). Add to that the rise of professional race management companies and the death of volunteer driven races, and you have every reason to expect race fees to go up and up.
But considering the magnitude of the event, marathon prices really are not that crazy compared to other sports and events. A round of golf at a top public course can easily push $200 with a cart on a weekend. Most theme parks are $50+ per person, with big destination venues like Disney starting at $100 per person. Most big music concerts and broadway shows will cost you $75+ for lousy seats and $250+ for half decent seats.
So, $100-200 for a marathon is really not outrageous. And there are plenty of low key marathons out there that are a fraction of the cost.
Overtime for the fire and police. It's union corruption again.