What is the big deal with finisher medals?

Personally, for me, participation awards are motivation for me. I know I am not at the skill level to win the races, yet. But, to have been almost 300 pounds and painfully inactive...motivating myself to be healthier, through running, it serves as a milestone of accomplishment. And my children have been able to see and cheer their father on in, at least 3 races.. both 5K and 10K. So, to one of the previous responders, I would caution calling people fatties so carelessly. For some those awards are motivation between life or death. Just my two cents.

the award is life itself, not a goddamn piece of medal.

BDR wrote:

Personally, for me, participation awards are motivation for me. I know I am not at the skill level to win the races, yet. But, to have been almost 300 pounds and painfully inactive...motivating myself to be healthier, through running, it serves as a milestone of accomplishment. And my children have been able to see and cheer their father on in, at least 3 races.. both 5K and 10K. So, to one of the previous responders, I would caution calling people fatties so carelessly. For some those awards are motivation between life or death. Just my two cents.

BDR wrote:

Personally, for me, participation awards are motivation for me. I know I am not at the skill level to win the races, yet. But, to have been almost 300 pounds and painfully inactive...motivating myself to be healthier, through running, it serves as a milestone of accomplishment. And my children have been able to see and cheer their father on in, at least 3 races.. both 5K and 10K. So, to one of the previous responders, I would caution calling people fatties so carelessly. For some those awards are motivation between life or death. Just my two cents.

what's so much better about the finisher's medal than just keeping your bib number from the race

I agree. The entry fees for these local 5k's are getting to be more and more expensive, and I'm sure a lot of that is to cover the medals and t-shirts, though I have to admit that as a newbie runner, I really liked the t-shirts. It really annoys me when a cancer fundraising race or something similar lives out huge, gaudy 5k finishers medals. Please, save the money for your charity!!

Now any t-shirt has to be better than one already in my drawer, or it gets tossed, and any finishers medal that doesn't represent a PR gets tossed out with the schwag bag junk.

I agree, I would take a medal over a t-shirt, because for me they are more practical. I ran several races before finishers medals were en vogue and the souvenir was a t-shirt. I liked it but I had so many that I ran out of room for them, and I would rarely wear them (t-shirts are not really my thing). When I ran the first race with a finisher's medal I liked the idea even better because I had a souvenir that I could use, did not take up all the room in my drawer, and I could display.

It's funny to see this thread on here in a different light. I ran the Dallas Turkey Trot today. After the finish, and during serious oxygen debt, I was handed one of these. I couldn't help but laugh and stuck it in my pocket accordingly. Then after the race EVERYONE is wearing their medal. Really? I think it's pretty obvious what we just participated in. Oh well, it's all about the attention I guess. I'm more a fan of acting like you've been there before.

I've wondered about this as well. It does seem many races (from 10k up) are now giving them out.

Interestingly enough, a race in my area sent out a poll recently asking what people would like (finisher's medals, trophies, gift certificates, beer glasses, etc.) and people overwhelmingly voted gift certificates and beer glasses. I'm fine with medals, but i'm all for practicality too.

**of course these would only go to age group winners, not everybody.

It makes some people happy (chicks) for the photo op.

I think they are valid for a Marathon...as long as you didn't walk any of it.

A Marathon is an accomplishment. A half marathon, nah, 10k, nah.

Finish top ten in any of those, medal.

Remember all those kids who got participation trophies in youth soccer?

They are adults now.

Usatf handed out finishers medals for all those who somehow finished a whole mile at the masters national championships in Flint, Mi. You could even pay a guy to engrave your name on the back.

1 mile!!!!!!!!!!!

I ran a USATF masters 800m race once. Would of run 5k but I'd already signed up for a 5k the next day. Anyway, I finished 1st in my age group and won a nice gold medal for my effort. Funny/sad thing was I was the only one in my age group. LOL!

I also really liked how the medals were awarded. They had a box of medals sitting on the football field turf. You just went over to it and awarded yourself. I've never participated in a USATF event since.

It's clear that the same medal can mean different things to different people. I'm proud of the finishers' medal from my first half marathon, because I'm a sprinter and was proud of the fact that I could run that far in what I thought was a reasonable time.

On the other hand, I have silver and even gold medals from competitions which have been thrown in the drawer almost instantly, where I knew that the standard was well below what I normally raced at (e.g. a 60m masters age race where I stumbled out of the blocks, almost stopped because I thought it was a false start, and then still won) - others at the same meeting were proudly having their photos taken with their bronze medals. On the other hand, I have a bronze medal from a higher grade event that I cherish more than any of the golds from that lower level event.

I don't think you should be too harsh on 'fatties' wanting their finishers' medals - for them, it may well be the closest they come to an athletic achievement in their lives.

OP

It's simple;

The new generation of runners 20-30 y.o.'s, are the "me" generation.

They want finisher medals in 5k's, anything.

They put their kids in the kids "fun run" where everyone gets a ribbon and then send an email to the race asking why their kid, who they discovered was 3rd girl under 10, didn't get a big trophy. When it clearly states on the entry that there are no trophies in the fun run.

This is the generation that is now coming into the running community. They will ruin the races within 5 years. Watch

Mujo67 wrote:

I agree. The entry fees for these local 5k's are getting to be more and more expensive, and I'm sure a lot of that is to cover the medals and t-shirts, though I have to admit that as a newbie runner, I really liked the t-shirts. It really annoys me when a cancer fundraising race or something similar lives out huge, gaudy 5k finishers medals. Please, save the money for your charity!!

Now any t-shirt has to be better than one already in my drawer, or it gets tossed, and any finishers medal that doesn't represent a PR gets tossed out with the schwag bag junk.

This is my new criteria too. I had over 55 junk low quality tech-shirts in my drawers. I kept the top 3 and donated the rest.

Same with the finisher medal and age group awards. Overall awards are hard to toss, but finisher medals are junk except 26.2 ones. Even a half-marathon finisher award is junk.

If you don't like your finishers metals... finisher metals for major races are worth money and can be sold on ebay.

I've read through this old thread, and remember when races were getting out of control with the fees. Some 5k's are now $45-$50. I used to be a RD of a well-known local series, so I battled it from both sides.

I've noticed though, that in the past couple years there has been a backlash in my area, and there are a few no-frills series that are gaining ground that give you nothing but an accurate course and chip timing. No shirt, no medals, and just awards for top three overall and top master m/f. None of the 3-deep 5 year age groups that take forever to hand out, no medals.

And I notice these races have much higher finish time averages. More serious runners. There might be only 80 total finishers, and over half of them are breaking 20. It just proves what everyone knows; the slower the runner, the more they care about the trinkets.

Tell me about it! We put on races. We actually get emails now that we never got before. Millennials! "Why wasn't there a finishers medal for the 5k marathon?" And, "I worked very hard, and would have liked to at least have a medal to show my accomplishment!" (It was a 5k)

Personally, I don't think finishers medals should be given to any distance shorter than 13.1

Yeah, if you wanna go old school Fresh Pond , Cambridge, Ma, 9 am every Saturday, 5 and 10k and all you get is your time, but the quality of runners that show up is amazing.

Blah Blah Blah. wrote:

If you don't like your finishers metals... finisher metals for major races are worth money and can be sold on ebay.

Sorry, but $5.50 isn't worth my time. Chicago's a major race, right? $5.50 for a vintage medal. It's right here:

The only ones selling for real money are Boston ($60 for 2016) and the Disney hobby jogger destination races.