Why do race directors do elite fields/comped entry?

I've long wondered the same. The Kenyans running fast upfront can't possibly be a motivator to the 4 hour plus crowd forking over cash to the race.

For many regionally competitive marathons, a sub 2:30 usually gets you a comped entry. I would imagine the race director wants to help support the local and regionally competitive athletes. There seems to be a charity component to it.

There's the charity component of helping out the guys who are the local heroes. I think it looks weird if the fastest guys around don't do the bigger local races, so an RD should, and often does at least encourage them to run their race by comping entry, which is a pretty small gesture.

I do think having faster runners adds to the prestige of a race, even to the hobby jogger crowd. A race in my area can now claim to be the "fastest race in (my state)" because I ran the state record for that distance on the course. IDK how much that's worth, but some RDs value that.

If you comp the top tier runners, the second tier guys are more likely to sign, if the second tier guys sign up, you're more likely to get the third tier guys and so on.

It doesn't make a difference to the four hour crowd, but comping a few top tier guys can bring in a few dozen more runners. Also your marathon doesn't look like some kind of Jabroni race with a winning time of 3:15.

It doesn't cost anything to comp good runners, but it looks good when your event has fast results.

And prize money gives a fun element with very little cost compared to revenue coming in.

Without fast runners there are usually fewer people who do the race. There aren't many races with thousands of runners where the winning time is really slow. Typically the size of the race correlates to how much prize money or comped entries they have. This is because fast people can typically get those things so they won't go to your race if they aren't offered. And then the decently fast people who want good competition won't show up because it's easier to run fast when there are other fast people and those fast people aren't there anymore. And then a lot of people go to a race because it's a top race in your area, and often a top race in your area is such because that's where the fast runners go. And again, the fast runners won't go there if they aren't offered those things.

It's because they have a value, not charity. Having fast people come to your race brings a level of legitimacy to the event that brings additional people. So a certain portion of the revenue from those people was gained because of the fast people.

Also helps with the publicity of the event and coverage in the press, which helps promote both the race and the cause.

Keep in mind also, contrary to the myth that prize money (and comps) are paid for by increased entry fees, it’s routine that this budget line item is financed by sponsors of the race.
As a manager I’ve received prize money for my athletes not always from the race, but sometimes direct from the sponsor.

Kind of odd to get a $6000 check from a grocery store or $5000 from the parks division of some city, but it happens. I’ve even received personal checks from an individual that personally gives a race their prize money purse.

For races with big time title sponsors, it gives the sponsors ROI in press coverage for the winners. For the rest, 4+ hour types (majority are one-and-doners) will be there regardless but not necessarily the sub-4 types, which make up a significant demographic of consistent/return entrants. Even just 50 extra entry fees that repeat annually can help sustain a race and more than pay for 10-20 comp entries. I'm never surprised at how little business sense LRCers possess.

Many RDs are/were runners in races at one point. They think that having someone fast upfront adds credibility to the event. It doesn't make races any money and that's why a lot of races don't provide comps anymore.

I would like to see evidence of this claim. I was around Peachtree 10K a bit (ran a few times, volunteered a few times). I doubt they got to 55,000 runners because a fast Kenyan was there.

yea it was a "relic" of a time from the first running book when the only people out there running a race were the serious runners who treated road racing as a sport. Races could provide "legitimacy" and attract more runners and deeper fields by offering prize money and comps and thus he following year more people would hopefully come out to their race.

However, since the demographics have changed and the vast majority of people paying these high entry fees are those who don't care about their time or place but rather care about swag and instagram bragging rights, there really is no motivation for race directors to have a purse or comp entries. Races have become more of a parade or festival atmosphere, hi-jacked to raise money for charity. Since those who run these don't care, less race directors care about fast times at their events.

People often think races are there for the "charity" but many times very little money actually gets donated. It's a big FOR PROFIT business.

Why is the Chicago marathon big? Cuz it's fast. Why is the Chicago marathon fast? Cuz it's big.

I do not think how fast it is matters for more than a few hundred people. What makes it big is that it is a city that people like to go to and has a huge population.

Good question!

1) I think it largely due to the fact that good races have a bit of history and go back to an era where road racing was still about the racing. Peachtree, Falmouth, Bloomsday, Boston, Cascade Runoff (Shamrock), Boulder-Boulder, Pear Blossom, Marine Corp 10 Miler, Carlsbad 5000, etc. were all races before t-shirts and finisher medals were a thing. Modern races might be wise to emulate races that have been successful for decades.

2) Good race directors were probably runners themselves at some point. They know that there is more to our sport than just "walking it in with a group of friends in tutus" and collecting a huge medal. The guys and gals that put on races know that there are different ways to be a runner and respect that.

Comping the 5-10 elites in the community and the top 5-10 finishers from last year's race is the smartest, zero-cost way to ensure that your race is not just an gathering of joggers but also an athletic competition. It doesn't cost anything and it puts another face on your event.

That all sounds nice, but the vast majority of races don't offer prize money anymore, and they're doing fine

Chuck George in New Orleans has always been generous with giving race numbers to elite and sub-elite. For this over the years I would like to thank him.