How many elites take the time to thank race directors?

I have been on both sides of the coin over the last 3 or 4 years and I will say I agreed with joiwef. It is a job for us to come and run and no we don't stick around for awards because we have finished the race, finished our cool down, and been waiting for the past hour to get our award why would we want to sit for yet another hour. Also every elite that I know always says thank you to the RD when they see them but again the RD is not the only one working at a race the athlete also is taking care of business and doesn't have all day to run around looking the RD...And being on both sides of the coin I have (at the same time) I have found that RD are the pricks if anyone. For those RD who say elites bring nothing to the race you are dead wrong.

joiwef wrote:

You think elites have time to do this at every race?

NO. Only the races that they received anything free. Every elite has the right to fly themselves in and pay for their own meals and hotel room. Then they don't owe the race anything.

I've found that the people who send the "thank-you's" to RDs/EACs are the same people who are similarly considerate and thoughtful in their nonrunning lives as well.

CC wrote:

Greg Hill wrote:

At the L.A. Marathon for the last six or seven years, I have worked with Bill Orr, who is the Elite Athlete Coordinator for the race (as well as quite a few others, too).

Many, many elites come to us and thank us for our time and efforts. Most of these are Kenyans and Ethiopians, although the U.S. athletes do as well.

Maybe it is just our race, but my experience is that the elite are humble and appreciative. They seem to understand what we do and that we are working for them to make the race great.

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That's another problem with this sport. A guy like Orr get's 5 or 6 g's to be an elite coordinator for a race, when the rest of them do it for free, and just as good.

THAT BILL ORR IS A CHUMP HE ONLY INVITES INTERNATIONALS HE ALWAYS pushes the USA RUNNERS OUT I Know a handful of 2:16 2:19 that wanted to run in l.a. but supposedly they were out of money bah bunch of chumps in la..

Concrete Skater wrote:

I used to thank RD's for inviting me and comping me at races. That didn't stop them from NOT inviting me once my times got slower.

It's a business transaction. Politeness is bonus but not required.

Politeness is how civil human beings should behave and IS required in all modern societies, but to many the consequences are insignificant.

techoman wrote:

[quote]CC wrote:

[quote]Greg Hill wrote:

At the L.A. Marathon for the last six or seven years, I have worked with Bill Orr, who is the Elite Athlete Coordinator for the race (as well as quite a few others, too).

Many, many elites come to us and thank us for our time and

THAT BILL ORR IS A CHUMP HE ONLY INVITES INTERNATIONALS HE ALWAYS pushes the USA RUNNERS OUT I Know a handful of 2:16 2:19 that wanted to run in l.a. but supposedly they were out of money bah bunch of chumps in la..

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Like I said, guys like him are bad for the business. What business? Producing and promoting American distance running. How do we expect to grow? How do we expect any young man or woman to have interest in this sport if they don't see anybody to look up to?

Look at the difference it made with the wimter Olympics. the Nordic disciplines were always denmark, Sweden, France, Swiss and Germans. Americans were never even considered. The past 3 years they focused on training the way europeans have, and the Americans have made a HUGE, HUGE statement in Vancouver.

The USATF Championship series should be the trailblazer in promoting U.S. runners. All the championship races should have American money only!

Promote, produce and proceed to a better showing in American distance runners.

thanking race directors is like tipping, they're already getting paid to do a job, why should I pay extra or say thank-you for driving me around, bringing me to my hotel, flying me to the race, etc...

/take that with a large helping of sarcasm.

In reality, NYC Marathon participants don't give a f* about a 2:05 marathoner. Any large marathon will make money w or w/o elites. Hell, RDs should get more Oprahs/Lances/etc. That would make a ton more money if people knew they could rub elbows running with P.Diddy, than hearing about some guy finishing 5 hours before they do.

The people who WOULD see an elite running a marathon do not pay to spectate, and the those that do pay will never see that elite start OR finish. The biggest fans of those races are the armchair runners right here...not paying a dime to those elites or help out RDs.

Other than the high-visibility USATF/Olympic (trials), elite's should have the common decency to thank someone for spending possibly hundreds/thousands of dollars to set them up with the perfect race. And from reading these posts, the Ritz' and Hall's of the world DO thank those high-profile race directors. Don't be an ass. If someone does something nice for you, say thank you. That's a basic human courtesy. Nobody is above saying thank-you (at least in my book).

And to the person who brought up the plumber analogy: Yea, if some guy came to my house to pull my own s*** out of my toilet, even though I paid him, I'd still thank him as he walked out the door.

I have the privilege to stand at the finish line of the ING New York City Marathon every year in my role as the New York Road Runners professional athletes consultant. I congratulate and thank every top athlete who finishes our race, no matter how he or she did. Their hard work and fantastic athleticism is a key component of what makes the ING New York City Marathon truly great.

But the truth is, they mostly thank me (they are really thanking the New York Road Runners but I'm just there to accept their thanks). It's incredibly gratifying (one of the highlights of my year) because I know they don't have to.

David Monti, Professional Athletes Consultant

New York Road Runners

Master Newbie wrote:

Politeness is how civil human beings should behave and IS required in all modern societies, but to many the consequences are insignificant.

In theory I agree with you. But the reality is not so. Have you ever been to Germany? Would you consider Germany a "modern society"? I would consider them modern but not so polite.

It's true, even if you think of a race as just a business transaction, you should still thank them. That's how the business world works.

I'm definitely not an elite, but I did get a complementary entry to a race for placing high enough last year, which I won't be able to use... After reading this thread I probably should thank them anyways.

And I'm guessing those Hanson team guys get invited to a lot more races BECAUSE of how friendly they are. If I were an RD and an elite thanked me I would be a whole lot more likely to invite them again, whereas if they didn't I probably wouldn't even remember him/her.

one time when I was a 10th grader, I thanked the organizer/director of a huge relay meet. He said "you're welcome matt." I had never talked to/seen the guy before in my life...

snowday NE wrote:

one time when I was a 10th grader, I thanked the organizer/director of a huge relay meet. He said "you're welcome matt." I had never talked to/seen the guy before in my life...

Cool anecdote, man. very cool.

You are right. Elites do indeed bring something to a race....but from a pure business perspective they bring zero to the race financially. Elites bring generally more press coverage and the overall excitement of high level racing, which is hard to measure in tangible dollars. My point was simply that the races that have decided to drop prize $ and elites entirely (there are more than a 2 dozen in Asia, North America and Europe I can think of off the top of my head), there was no negative effect seen in terms of income for the race - in fact virtually all continued to see their #s grow year after year. Surveys amongst the "general running population" made public a few years ago by Running USA, show that all but the top 1-2% of road racers has any interest in who won the race. Race time over - in the car and back to the kids. If Elites (more specifically sub-elites...29:30ers / 16:00 women) choose to not take the time to thank those of us in the industry who work (most for actually no pay naxc) do not be surprised when many of us in the race director biz decide not to give you the room, or take you to dinner, or pick up your airfare. Good luck - southern race director

I think the relationship between RD's and elites "should" be symbiotic, but in reality it's not. This is because running is becoming less of a sport than it is a hobby/activity/pasttime/recreation/whatever you want to call it. This has been discussed before, but people who run for recreation are rarely fans of the sport. So they don't care about elites, yet they are the ones with all the money to spend on races and running gear.

RD's who give prize money and/or travel assistance ARE doing us a favor by supporting the SPORT side of running. Therefore, we need to show them our gratitude. Why would they want to support people who are ungrateful and selfish? And let's face it, many of us are self-absorbed in our little bubble of 100-mile weeks. Our world is not reality but for a select few. The reality check is that WE cannot survive and continue to chase our dreams without the support of sponsors and RD's. But they can most certainly survive without us -- running won't be the same, but it will continue to appeal to the masses.

Former Group Member wrote:

This was a huge issue when I ran with the team. Our coach wanted us to thank everyone involved with the race. We very rarely did. We were trying to get better as runners, we are not there to make friends. If an RD needs someone to kiss their ass then I would rather go to another race.

I recently left a group over this exact reason.

You actually quit a team because you didn’t want to say thank you to a race director?