Yes. It's a not for profit organization and this is part of its chartered mission.
Yes. It's a not for profit organization and this is part of its chartered mission.
This argument that it doesn't affect the non-elite runners is hogwash. Competitor is bringing racing down to the lowest couch-potato denominator, and it winds up making us ALL look like hobby joggers.
Great, if lengthy, post about it here:
Dont run any of their crappy cookie cutter events. I avoid the one in my home town like the plague.
sponsorship is not effective wrote:
I've watched the Bank of America Chicago Marathon and the ING New York City Marathon for years, raced each once.
Despite seeing the Bank of America and ING logos everywhere, I do not have accounts with either.
I've got an account at both. Not sure they initially were because of running but I'm glad to support them.
Chicago has world records. Good runners will go there to run a fast time in the 1000s. You have to qualify for NYC and Boston. They have built a mistique that endures. If they dropped the elite programs, the mistique would fade and so would the masses desire to participate.
The same will eventually be true for Competitor. People will stop seeing it as a competitive event, plus they will have already had the "experience" and move on to something else. Their numbers will get harder to grow or even sustain. This is really true with or without elite programs because entertainment is a fickle business. So just wait. Competitor will start shedding races and eventually fade into the sunset. 20 years from now people will still be talking about Boston and no one will be talking about RnR Insert City Here.
I hope that is true. Many Competitor events didn't have an elite field to begin with. However, they bought many races with storied traditions and are now pulling the plug with no notice or concern for even notifying the public. Imagine LRC had a series of races, expanded too fast, and for financial reasons decided it had to pull the plug on the Pros. Think we would do it without even an announcement of the logic? Competitor's lack of concern for the running public and how they did it not even honoring appearance fees agreed to for upcoming races shows their disdain in my opinion for the people in their races. Businesses are designed to make money but if you're going to abuse the public trust (especially when you get tax dollars for your business) then hopefully people chose not to do business with you.
There are many other running events people can run, many with entertainment options as well.
He financed his trip to Egypt himself,and it cost 3 months of his salary according to this report:
He has also been known to refuse prize money after winning races:
http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.fr/2013/05/kawauchi-declines-prizes-after-winning.html
If you want serious distance running to become more popular and mainstream again, then athletes like Kawauchi are the model to follow if you look at what is happening Japan. This simply because the public can relate to someone who is essentially living the same way as they are for a large portion of his daily life.
He financed his trip to Egypt himself,and it cost 3 months of his salary according to this report:
He has also been known to refuse prize money after winning races:
http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.fr/2013/05/kawauchi-declines-prizes-after-winning.html
If you want serious distance running to become more popular and mainstream again, then athletes like Kawauchi are most likely the best model to follow if you look at what is happening in Japan. This is simply because the public can relate to someone who is essentially living the same way as they are for a large portion of his daily life.