To Snobby Race Directors - Why Do You Only Give Awards to Runners Who Stay for the Awards Ceremony?

WHY THE HELL DON'T YOU JUST POLITELY ASK THEM FOR IT BECAUSE YOU CAN'T WAIT AROUND FOR A LONG TIME. and by the way, why is it a big deal that you be home before 12pm anyway? most normal kids don't even wake up until at least 8 or 9. i'm sure your wife and kids will be fine that you are gone for a couple of extra hours. but i still stand by what i said earlier in that it is annoying that some RD won't mail even if you live far away.

Dear Keith Stone,

Your post is a true pearl! Thank you for the laugh.

I don't see why you don't go up to the race director before leaving, tell them you need to leave for whatever reason, and grab your award. It's as easy as that! You need to take the initiative.

I am actually a troll...hahahaha, you suckers. Aren't you experienced enough now to know when someone is a troll?

ufxcountry wrote:

WHY THE HELL DON'T YOU JUST POLITELY ASK THEM FOR IT BECAUSE YOU CAN'T WAIT AROUND FOR A LONG TIME. and by the way, why is it a big deal that you be home before 12pm anyway? most normal kids don't even wake up until at least 8 or 9. i'm sure your wife and kids will be fine that you are gone for a couple of extra hours. but i still stand by what i said earlier in that it is annoying that some RD won't mail even if you live far away.

Sometimes I do stay. Depends on what's going on. They know who i am and I've talked with them about this before. And I don't make a lot of money, so $125 is not just a stupid award to me.

And for Keith, I'm sure you and most RD's do a fine job, but the reality is that some do not. In the past 7 years or so I've done a few races organized by these same 2 bozos who had the course grossly mismarked. I mean like 2.5 miles instead of 5K. I don't see them offering refunds when they can't deliver what they promised.

I rape my wife.

And abuse my children. I am also an alcoholic.

It does suck to wait around for over an hour for the awards to begin. I'm with you there, but if there were that much money involved I would have waited it out. But yeah, I have definately left races before awards even when winning something because I didn't want to wait around.

jkj

Age Grouper in Protest wrote:

Some of these RD's are the ones who are only thinking about themselves. They are washed up local runners who work in running stores or coach, and directing the local race is their chance to be king of the hill for a day. They'll talk about how much a sacrifice it is to organize and run a race, but in reality many of them love it because of the attention it brings them. It is the highlight of their year.

You piss me off on several levels. For one, without race directors, you wouldn't have to worry about your stinking award because most of the races you cherry pick for that plaque to hang on your wall wouldn't exist. For two, you've obviously never been a RD or even worked at a race before or you would know that your entry fee barely covers the cost of putting on the race because you hot shot age-groupers would protest if you didn't get an award. For three, instead of doing what another poster suggested and taking responsibility to solve your own problem by asking about picking up your award before you leave, you expect othters to spend their time caterering to you.

grow up.

I would like to say Thank You to 1st Place Sports in jacksonville Florida, I ran the marathon there this past weekend and won the Masters division, as soon as I was done I was in the car within 5 minutes of finishing and on the 6 hour ride back home, I had to get back for work and couldn't stay for the awards, i fully didn't expect to get the Master's money for not staying but I got the check in the mail today. Thanks 1st place sports!

It irritates me to no end when prize winners, especially open winners (not the age group winners, who might not be aware they've won anything) don't hang around for the ceremony.

I don't like waiting an hour after a race to see if I've won some trinket either, but it's common courtesy, and frankly a great time to socialize with running friends you only see every couple of races, or to make new running friends.

I suppose I can understand if you've got no social graces not wanting to hang out with a bunch of sweaty skinny people over an orange or a bagel or whatever. But if you're that socially impaired, and you're bound and determined to be hand delivered your god-given age group prize, I suggest you either take up another activity that caters to your attention deficit or compete in races where the awards happen fairly quickly, like track races.

I've organized a few races. It's a thankless job, and the only thing I ever got out of it was the respect of other race directors who knew what effort goes into these things. There's no other benefit except the personal satisfaction you get from putting on a race for a bunch of your friends and some of their friends, and knowing whether or not you managed to get it mostly right.

Guys like you really piss me off, and honestly it takes a whole lot to piss me off. You're a selfish prick. The running community would be better off without you.

Oh, and Merry f'ing Christmas!

You run the race- x minutes

get through the chute, catch breathe get gatorade- 5 min

watch for the next few finishers, amble over to car- 10 min

change shoes, throw on sweats, amble back to race- 10 min

run three cool-down- 20-25 min

check and see if beyond belief there's any food left- 5min

go hunt down awards ceremony- 5 min

That could take almost an hour right there. I've done that senario and been late for some awards ceremonies.

Why don't you learn to just have a couple of post-race beers with your fellow runners and relax a bit instead of getting all bent out of shape about some gift certificate?

I gotta agree with the poster who started this thread, awards ceremonies at nearly all road races suck ass.

I done a local 5k this past summer that I wish all races would copy. It was called the fast 5K for the course AND the way it was run. As the race finished they awarded the top finishers plaques as soon as they crossed the finish line (top 3 male and female only). When you received your time card you flipped it over to see if you had won a door prize. If so, you collected at a table at your own leisure. My son and I ran this 5k and was done and on our way home in less than 1 hour.

Best run race I've done in a long time. While I enjoy some of the local races and do hang out for the awards ceremony I don't think I should hang around any longer than it took to run the race to collect prizes or awards.

I love the simplicity of that approach. The trouble is that the guys like the one who started this thread would whine like crazy cause they didn't get an award for their 3rd place in the 25-29 division.

I started off agreeing with this guy but then he said he doesn't make a lot of money. So if you're good enough to win a $125 award you need to break that down into hours "worked" to see if it's worth waiting around for that. If that entire day(including award ceremony) takes 4 hours even, that's over $30 per hour. Coming from a broke ass mofo, that's worth it! And if your wife don't understand that then there's something wrong.....your earning money at a better rate than your 9 to 5, doing your HOBBY, wtf!!!

Just do the math in your head next time to see if it's worth sticking around for. If it's not or it's marginal then talk to the RD politely to see if he can give it you then or mail it, if not then no bigee since it's marginal. If it's got some decent value, stick around.

Some of you seem to have a too-snotty attitude towards age-group awards. They are a great way to attract and reward medium-talent older runners ( like me ! )and I for one never mind hanging around to see if I've won something.... good for the ego if nothing else. Plus, is not the entire ambience of a race ( before, during, after ) supposed to be FUN ? What's the big rush to get away ?