Selling a Boston Bib?

Try posting this over on Running Times or Runners World, you could MAKE money on this with all the slow slobs with a Boston jones who visit those sites.

Don't sell your bib number ... injuries suck.

By the way, if they catch you doing it there's a chance they'll also ban you from the race. Maybe it's a small chance at happening, but you have the most micro-managing and best race director in the country at the helm.

I posted on RW forums, i bet they delete it though.

not like i really care about the money but its cheap of the race to charge you the fee twice if you aren't partcipating. I couldd see if they charged an extra $25 or something to transfer it.

God forbid someone selling a "Boston Bib" to someone who didn't earn it. May both the buyer and seller face a firing squad of legitimate qualifiers. Unless of course, by vote, they choose hanging or decapitation.

injured wrote:

$95 bucks

redundant, "$95" or "95 bucks"

correcting idiocy wrote:

injured wrote:

$95 bucks

redundant, "$95" or "95 bucks"

Thanx for the aide in caching mistakes. Policeing the grammer errers on this cite never ends.

Rod Argent wrote:

God forbid someone selling a "Boston Bib" to someone who didn't earn it. May both the buyer and seller face a firing squad of legitimate qualifiers. Unless of course,

by vote, they choose hanging or decapitation.

Using another's race number is at the least unethical and unlawful; at the worst, it is inherently DISHONEST!! I think that most violators of this policy are genuinely not aware of how bad it really is. (Hey, I can't use the number/"bib", so why not let someone else use it......??) Well-meaning but wrong!!!

A few years ago, at Grandma's Marathon, I saw that a friend of mine ran a FANTASTIC PR!! Since he was remotely capable of such a good time, I believed that he had actually run this great time! When, I congratulated him a few weeks later, he turned 5 shades of red and said that he had let some guy use (buy?) his number, and it was someone else who ran under his name!!! Fortunately, it did not affect prize money (it was close!); there was no fraud, etc charges to deal with. Although tempting, DO NOT RUN WITH ANOTHER'S RACE NUMBER!!!

Yeah, because anyone who'd need to buy a Boston bib is a threat to win a prize in the race. Get real.

OH YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! Unfortunately, I am being VERY real regarding the "re-sale" of race numbers, in general. Because the likelihood of someone buying a race number for Boston and winning prize money is slim, does that condone it? (I.e., if you don't get caught, it's ok??!!) I was referring to the general practice of selling/buying someone's race number, and Boston's no different. It is WRONG on all counts! Maybe you should re-set your moral compass if you think it's "OK" to run under an assumed name!!

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wrote:

Yeah, because anyone who'd need to buy a Boston bib is a threat to win a prize in the race. Get real.

Uh just what "counts" are those? It might be UNWISE, but I can hardly think of a reason, let alone several, for the rod-up-the-backside brigade to latch onto this one.

I don't think it's so immoral to run under someone else's name, just stupid. What do you get from it? The seller's name goes in the official results, and he gets the little certificate in the mail. Why wouldn't you just bandit for free?

People were offering $400 for a NYC bib on craigslist. For most guys who can run the NYC qualifying time, but not a whole lot better, that's the biggest payday we'll ever get from running.

I saw an official walking through the starting area last year with a pad of paper looking for #'s. He yanked 3-4 guys out of the start area. Just eat the money. Its not that much.

In answer to the specific question posed:

YES, officials demand ID for EVERYONE when picking up the bib--indeed, my friend was UNABLE to pick up his WIFE'S bib because he did not have her ID.

That said, there is a provision (check the baa site) that allows a runner to sign the card and let someone else pick up the bib.

Oh, and they WILL yank you if you're caught -- tougher on bib CHEATS than on bandits.

injured wrote:

its cheap of the race to charge you the fee twice if you aren't partcipating. I couldd see if they charged an extra $25 or something to transfer it.

Can you name another big race which would refund your money after sending in your entry? Sorry about the injury, but those are the risks you take in sending in your entry this early!

I got pulled from the start with a photocopied bib last year, but wrestled loose from the officials and managed to jump the fence as the race was starting.

BOO YAH

Let's say you are a 3:45 marathoner, and you "sell" (or give) your number to another runner, a 3:10 marathoner. He (or she) runs the 3:10 at Boston, and you erroneously get credit for a HUGE PR, that appears in daily newspapers, national running results, etc!! (The results, of course, have no provision to explain who ACTUALLY ran the race, only that YOU apparently did.) Whatever your intentions, the result is, to me, very deceptive and dishonest. "Immoral" may be too harsh a word, depends on how ya spin it, I guess!! Just my $.02 worth. ..........from a member of "the-rod-up-the-backside brigade", as one "enlightened" poster cleverly(?) called us!! (I'd rather use the term "fair-minded brigade"!!!) There definitely is a time to be "laid back", ( I have a TYPE C Personality!) and "live and let live". I generally hate alot of regulations, rules, etc;that's why I have loved running for more than 40 years!! When it comes to taking credit for something you did not do,however, I guess I am a member of the"rod-up-the- backside brigade" and call it D-I-S-H-O-N-E-S-T!!!!!!!

-- wrote:

I don't think it's so immoral to run under someone else's name, just stupid. What do you get from it? The seller's name goes in the official results, and he gets the little certificate in the mail. Why wouldn't you just bandit for free?

People were offering $400 for a NYC bib on craigslist. For most guys who can run the NYC qualifying time, but not a whole lot better, that's the biggest payday we'll ever get from running.

Steve Hoag wrote:

Let's say you are a 3:45 marathoner, and you "sell" (or give) your number to another runner, a 3:10 marathoner. He (or she) runs the 3:10 at Boston, and you erroneously get credit for a HUGE PR, that appears in daily newspapers, national running results, etc!!

The opposite scenario is far more likely, that the registered runner gets 'credit' for a time that's an hour or more slower than she would ever run

If you're a 3:10 runner, you can get a Boston bib in your own name.

anon guy wrote:

By the way, if they catch you doing it there's a chance they'll also ban you from the race. Maybe it's a small chance at happening, but you have the most micro-managing and best race director in the country at the helm.

A race director who is happy to charge an injured runner $190 to run once, and who btw has made a tradition of not cracking down on bandits.

Most important "count" why it's wrong to use someone else's entry -- the runner on the street would not have been the person who signed the legal waiver. So there's no contract whatsoever, and liability protection for each is murky or nonexistent. What if the "bib buyer," who isn't even supposed to be there in the first place, messes up someone else? What if some fatass with a PayPal account instead of a BQ got a first-corral number, sprinted the first 200 yards, slowed to near-walk immediately, and took you down before you coudl see and avoid him?

Almost no one (Cornelius Horan excepted) wants somethign bad to happen to someone in a marathon, but sometimes they happen.

Oh, I forgot...this is letsrun.com, where rules don't apply to anyone if they don't ensure you get exactly what you want exactly when you want it.