$40 for local 4 mile Turkey Trot is absurd

Yes, but I run 80 mpw, to run races, not stuff my face with doughnuts and consume more calories than I burn over the course of 3 miles.

douche bag

That's excellent Birdlegs. Our local race requests two cans and a 10 spot. There are no awards ( what will you do with it in a month? )and the collections go to our local food bank. The course makes four left turns with no signals or cops required.

It amazes me that people line up to pay $40 for a tshirt and official time for a 5K, but that is their call. The same people will also pay $10 for a movie they know is bad, $20 for a crummy restaurant meal, and $100 for cable TV with nothing worth watching on. I have high standards when it comes to paying for a race though. The race has to offer some sort of experience or support that is unique or hard to replicate for me to be willing to pay.

I'm running a great 6k turkey trot tomorrow morning. $25. Fees any higher are absurd for a fun run, which is generally what all the T-day "races" are.

Not sure if the OP was referring to the Turkey Trot in Fort Collins but that race is around $40. Additionally, the Turkey Trot in Fort Collins has had a train impede the course and stop the majority of the field on several occasions. $40 bucks to run around town and then sit and wait for a train to pass. Rip off.

There's one turkey trot that is $35... but another one opened up last year that is only $10 and I'll be running that one even though the competition isn't as good. Is $10 pretty reasonable for a 5k?

A good bandit would never go on a message board before hand and announce his plan. A good bandit blends in with the runners at the start, races until a couple blocks from the finish and blends in with the spectators once he sees how fast he would have run. He then leaves unnoticed having accomplished what he set out to do.

silly monkey wrote:

thieves and scumbags. my, you do have a way with words.

someone charging 40 bucks for a 4 mile run is a thieve and scumbag in my book.

oh look, the same words applied to opposite people. intriguing.

Oh look! A whole post and no point made at all.

Btw, what's a "thieve"?

Yeah, that is ridiculous. It would cost me $200 to take my family down there and run that. Screw that. We'll find a $10 Turkey Trot...either that or just run around the block a few times and then go play football and boxing in the backyard.

monkeyblossom wrote:

silly monkey wrote:

thieves and scumbags. my, you do have a way with words.

someone charging 40 bucks for a 4 mile run is a thieve and scumbag in my book.

oh look, the same words applied to opposite people. intriguing.

Oh look! A whole post and no point made at all.

Btw, what's a "thieve"?

it's a relative of common sense. guess you're not familiar with the family line.

charity? wrote:

Our local Turkey trot is expecting 5000 at $35 pre-registered, thats roughly $175K. First 1000 get a donated pie by the local grocer (no out of pocket expense for the RD). Out/Back course with 3 intersections, so 3 cops at $40 an hour with minimum 3 hour requirement. no chip timing, no results and water at the finish.

ONLY major expense is portojohns.

That RD is a rich mf'ing genius!

Our city is about the same- 4,500 runners, 5,000 walkers @ $35 pre-reg, Shirts $30 extra, out & back in a closed park (no intersections), a couple cops for parking, pie drawing (500 donated), 10 johns, no chips or results. Plus everyone is gonna be wearing those stupid bells, antlers & santa hats. I'm running with my friends as far away from this as possible.

Participation in Turkey Trots is a basic human right. Let's nationalize the Turkey Trot industry today!

Somebody please buy this moron a dictionary:

the liberal response wrote:

Participation in Turkey Trots is a basic human right. Let's nationalize the Turkey Trot industry today!

taxpayer wrote:

dukerdog wrote:

To the OP, do you take things from the store that you feel are too expensive? Of course you don't. There is ABSOLUTELY no difference.

do the op's taxes pay for the items in that store like they pay for public roads and access to said roads?

so there is a little bit of difference then, huh?

less typing, more thinking. you'll sound less stupid.

My taxes pay for the local college and HS, can I go down and use the chemistry lab? The fact is that the race organizer pays a fee to close the roads and that fee enables the RD to keep people off the road for that period of time.

Maybe you need to be the one that thinks a bit.

SimpleJack wrote:

Ballbeenhammer wrote:

But running would be a good time with family and friends on Thanksgiving AM so I want to bandit the race. There is almost no charitable benefit that the race supports, I don't feel like running fast, won't take aid, cross the finish line, etc. So, rather than paying $40 to run around the town I grew up in I am not going to pay and instead run and have a good time and then go spend the $40 on something more worthwhile. Thoughts?

Don't run it. Are you being forced to run it? You have a choice as a consumer, vote with your feet by not participating. Otherwise STFU.

I see what you did there.

orbitboy wrote:

The cost of road races nowadays is ridiculous. Municipalities are bilking the running community. The hypocrisy is enormous: on one hand you have local officials claiming they want to have "the healthiest city in America," and on the other they're making these event prohibitively expensive. What a shame.

The fact is that with tight budgets costs of using city services is going to go up.

Second, one can have a healthy city without a single road race.

Third, there is nothing in a desire to have a healthy city that requires a single dollar of government spending.

$40 is steep wrote:

It amazes me that people line up to pay $40 for a tshirt and official time for a 5K, but that is their call. The same people will also pay $10 for a movie they know is bad, $20 for a crummy restaurant meal, and $100 for cable TV with nothing worth watching on. I have high standards when it comes to paying for a race though. The race has to offer some sort of experience or support that is unique or hard to replicate for me to be willing to pay.

I tend to agree, but

you might not know the movie stinks

you will not know the meal is crappy until you get it (even then you can complain and often get something done)

At times there is nothing to watch, but most of the time there is.

the liberal response wrote:

Participation in Turkey Trots is a basic human right. Let's nationalize the Turkey Trot industry today!

Occupy Turkey Trot starts here