The race is quite stale, hot, and crowded. It's well organized, but logistics are still problematic. The entry fee is probably a bit too high as well. It all adds up to a poor use of time.
The race is quite stale, hot, and crowded. It's well organized, but logistics are still problematic. The entry fee is probably a bit too high as well. It all adds up to a poor use of time.
TLW wrote:
Euclid wrote:Maybe they should drop the ridiculously high entry fee - $59 for the cheapest option? I went on the website to register and saw it was $59 for registration (with a tshirt) or $71 for a tech t-shirt and scoffed.
That is insane.
People complain about marathon entry fees when they're over $100.
Even though race entry fees don't necessarily follow a linear progression, $59 for a 10K --> $250 for a marathon. $71 -->$300.
I loved the race when I ran it, but can't justify spending that much when there are plenty other (and faster) 10Ks.
This is the correct answer. 60 bucks for a race without a shirt is insane.
its more than just the insane entry fees. Its also the plethora of other road races. Besides the very biggest races which are relatively stagnant, and new races which tend to rise in participation for 2-3 years, road race participation all over the country is dropping. The runners are spread out.
Sir Mix Somewhat wrote:
The race is quite stale, hot, and crowded. It's well organized, but logistics are still problematic. The entry fee is probably a bit too high as well. It all adds up to a poor use of time.
I've done six or eight of them and even won my age and some team titles. (just a bit of not so humble brag there!)
I agree with this statement, and with the one about the not-so-charity aspect of it. It's a for profit race. They do contribute to charity, but I think it's less than 10%. Some people are getting very rich off this event.
Back in the day it was annually a semi national championship event, loaded with world class runners. It kind of started jumping the shark by the late 1980s, and the contrived team championship--sort of a pseudo Olympics with three athletes per nation, so as not to let the Kenyans sweep 9 of 10 of the first spots, totally put them under (or is it over?).
Nevertheless, it's a rite of spring/summer in Colorado and the cit race can be a lot of fun, but the course is 1.5 to 2 min slower than you'd run at sea level, and that's even if you're acclimated to the altitude.
Bottom line: $59 for bare bones entry is ridiculous!
It's a well done event and people will continue to do it if they still think it's fun. It's still really competitive so that's another plus. But if you don't live in town it's a pretty big pain in the rear to get there on time and get home after, and if the high fee isn't too encouraging either. Personally the older I get, I don't need the aggravation of these clusterf'k events.
I think using the Boston Marathon bombing is a poor excuse. As a Boston resident we just had a half marathon run within the city with an increase of runners. Running the Boulder Boulder is on my bucket list but getting to Boulder and paying the expensive entry fee are two negatives.
Explanation/excuse fail.
The article says participation at BB was already down last year. This year just continued the downward trend. It obviously peaked in 2011.
The race director is grasping for straws.
I think it's definitely the mud runs, color runs and tough mudder shit taking away from all road races since 2010-2011.
Road racing and road race directors are in a different era now with new competition from these manure shitbird runs (e.g tough mudder, wounded crotch, elite special forces-tested electric wire teamwork runs through manure fields, and whatever else there is these days
BB 10k is too long of a distance at too high of an elevation for the average non Colorado recreational road runner to want to finish. The effort and associated glory from finishing aren't worth the cost ->non runners don't consider it much of an accomplishment to run a challenging 10k as fast as you can because "it's not a marathon." They think any race that's six miles is a piece of cake. They figure the object is just to finish the distance for all folks and time makes no difference.
Doing boulder bolder helped me get a job in Colorado because every non runner in the area knows what race you're talking about. It's slow as balls but it's a good hard effort