I've paced over 65 races from half to full Marathons, i'm done and here is why you shouldn't pace either.

A simple google search reveals that it is in fact illegal:

https://www.hrdive.com/news/got-volunteers-not-if-youre-a-for-profit-company/506084/

Unless someone else can find something different? Basically these companies are taking advantage of the kind heartedness of the running community to convince people that they are volunteers and then profiting off of you. These pacing companies aren't donating the money to charity either, they are for profit so i'm ASSUMING it would be illegal but just not enforced.

Interesting. I was completely unaware of Beast and the fact that there were other companies setting up the pacing. I thought the races set it up. And I figured the pacers were lightly compensated (free entry, maybe a meal/hotel at the really big races or something like that). At our local marathon, that's how it has always gone down at least.

But yeah, I'm with you. No pacing for a mega company unless they want to pay me. I might still pace for my local race some year, we'll see.

My first thought is that you should familiarize yourself with the basic elements of capitalism. My second thought, rather question, is why did you negotiate and accept such a bad deal for yourself?

Under the FLSA, employees may not volunteer services to for-profit private sector employers. On the other hand, in the vast majority of circumstances, individuals can volunteer services to public sector employers. When Congress amended the FLSA in 1985, it made clear that people are allowed to volunteer their services to public agencies and their community with but one exception - public sector employers may not allow their employees to volunteer, without compensation, additional time to do the same work for which they are employed. There is no prohibition on anyone employed in the private sector from volunteering in any capacity or line of work in the public sector.

Any legal experts on here want to pitch in? Im just googling stuff as I'm genuinely curious how this works.

I just googled and found numerous pages seeking volunteers for these Beast events - seems like they are pretty open about wanting Volunteers. Either they do not care about labor laws or they don't apply to running events even its a for-profit company.

born every minute"

I had no idea there were companies making money off it but why would anyone waste their time doing this? Pace a bunch of strangers to get pat on the back. What purpose does it serve to run a race that you're actually running to your best ability? I would pace a friend but not a bunch of strangers.

I actually have paced for this exact company before - Firstly, no one paces to get paid, we do it to help people as it's fun and a lot of us love running. That being said, OP is right a lot of these races do pay, I got nothing when I paced and I paced 2 years in a row, I just did it for the satisfaction of assisting others. I guess i'm a sucker, Lol.

I second this. We do this for the free entry. I have known the owner for many years and she also does it for the free entry, not profit. Do you have proof it's for profit? Some gigs have paid hotel, only if the race provided it

San Diego Hobby Jogger wrote:

TampaRunner wrote:

I actually have paced for this exact company before - Firstly, no one paces to get paid, we do it to help people as it's fun and a lot of us love running. That being said, OP is right a lot of these races do pay, I got nothing when I paced and I paced 2 years in a row, I just did it for the satisfaction of assisting others. I guess i'm a sucker, Lol.

I second this. We do this for the free entry. I have known the owner for many years and she also does it for the free entry, not profit. Do you have proof it's for profit? Some gigs have paid hotel, only if the race provided it

I'm afraid we've all been duped. While some of these smaller events don't pay - the bigger ones most certainly do.

He wouldn't have had to accept such a bad deal but the Republicans busted up all of the strong run pacer unions.

Regulator wrote:

A simple google search reveals that it is in fact illegal:

https://www.hrdive.com/news/got-volunteers-not-if-youre-a-for-profit-company/506084/

Unless someone else can find something different? Basically these companies are taking advantage of the kind heartedness of the running community to convince people that they are volunteers and then profiting off of you. These pacing companies aren't donating the money to charity either, they are for profit so i'm ASSUMING it would be illegal but just not enforced.

The title of that article is misleading. The law does not not preclude for-profit companies from using genuine volunteers. The issue in the case was whether or not the so called volunteers were actually employees and therefore are entitled to monetary compensation. The opinion mentions several different factors and test that courts have used to determine whether a volunteer is actually an employee under the FLSA.

It gets pretty complicated but a good attorney can probably show that the Beast pacers are genuine volunteers (or a good prosecutor could show the opposite). Beast appears to also be further insulating themselves by acting as a contractor whose job is to round up volunteers. The race pays Beast for their services in procuring the volunteers, but the pacers are acting as race volunteers, not Beast volunteers. This explains why Beast would never offer compensation for travel to a pacer because that would suggest an employee/employer relationship.

I'm not the most experienced pacer, but I've done it when the compensation is free entry into a DIFFERENT race from the one I am pacing. A lot of local races I can get comp'd entries anyway, but I feel like that's at least somewhat of an equitable trade-off, provided that the pacing isn't too disruptive in my training schedule.

How much would you charge an individual (old but ambitious hobby jogger) to pace a local half marathon? Perhaps 1 or 2 practice sessions on same race course prior to race included.

Ops entire point is that someone else is getting Rich off of the kindness of runners. Regardless if it’s legal, that’s annoying and very sad.

Don’t forget she makes you pay for the singlet I tried pacing but she kept using the same people over and over so I gave up on it. Glad I did now

Beastsucks wrote:

Don’t forget she makes you pay for the singlet I tried pacing but she kept using the same people over and over so I gave up on it. Glad I did now

It's just $17. Some races provide the shirt, do no need to buy. She uses reliable people first. I have seen pacers over estimate their abilities and miserably fail. To me personally, I treat pacing more important than going for a PR. Failing yourself no big deal. Failing others is a shame.

Yeah I forgot all about that drama.. She forces you to buy her stupid shirt on top of not paying you for the event.

SMH. I remember pacing one of her events where the shirt I forced to wear with an XL and i'm 120 pounds soaking wet, Lol.

Races use plenty of other volunteers besides pacers. Volunteers are used at packet pickup, race start, aid stations, finish line, etc.

Race entry fees would probably increase substantially if every person doing work at the race had to be paid. I've volunteered at a few ultras and found it to be an enjoyable experience.

ironically, the quality of the races would probably go down as well. The races would almost certainly pay minimum wage or just a bit more. Volunteers are usually far more engaged than those just doing it for the money.