Crazy how road race entrance fees have increased!

It was 75$ when I did it in both 98 and 2000. There are mid size marathons in Europe with decent prize purses that cost less to enter than some of these rinky dink 5ks in the USA.

Opinionated guy wrote:

Yes there is plenty of greed to go around, however, the sudden rise of entry fees coincided almost perfectly with the presence of timing companies. From $10 to $25 within a year. It then became standard.

I have directed races in the past and had volunteer help in nearly every capacity including doctors and medical personnel donating their services, donated shirts for advertising, donated $/awards, donated post-race refreshments.....then hit for $3-$4K by a timing company.

I do understand that I and others do not need to hire them but it became standard operating procedure to get results included in on-line sources and for other reasons with convenience at the top. I am not intentionally bashing them, just pointing out a big source of entry fees climbing well over 100% in just a few years and continuing to climb since.

A large cross country meet held at a city park started charging to park a few years ago and put right on the signs that it was for the chip timing. I would just run the couple miles out to the course for a couple years. I eventually didn't go for 4 or 5 years. Last year was the first I actually paid to attend. I used to go to all the xc meets my local school ran at but I won't go to any that charge until the regional and state meet. Remember when we were told all this great new technology would make everything faster, better, and cheaper?

Other problem is the race shirt quality has dropped from good to smelly, utter crap. I mean pay the little bit more for the true dry fit material from a top brand instead of a sweat my ass off fabric

I have gotten to point where I pass on shirt if they offer he option.

We do have a local 10k trail race for 50$ but that includes park entry...still overpriced but we are a Nyc suburb

Baltic Babe wrote:

It was 75$ when I did it in both 98 and 2000. There are mid size marathons in Europe with decent prize purses that cost less to enter than some of these rinky dink 5ks in the USA.

I looked into the faster European marathons for a spring marathon/vacation, and they all were significantly cheaper than the fastest spring marathons in Norh America. Except maybe Ottawa, that one isn't too bad.

I've seen a lot of posts that race fees in europe are lower. And that is generally true, I've resolved to run some cheap local races over bigger ones. That being said some fees in the UK are fairly high.

I did a lot of work with a sports inclusion organisation and would write to race directors to get 20 bibs for low-income people would could benefit from experience a challenge. They would agree, which is great, because race fees should not be a barrier to inclusion.

parkrun us a fairly good way to make things inclusive, and while it's not a race, it gives the right conditions to test/push your performance.

While high race fees suck, there should be actions taken by organisers to make sure they are accessible. I do think fees are in place to curb interest rather than to cover expenses or earnings. Perhaps more companies should sponsor races.

How has prize money changed with the increased race registration? My guess is that it hasn't moved equally. Boston is the most lucrative marathon on the planet right? It would still be cool to me if they found a way to give prize money 25, 30, even 50 deep like a golf/tennis tournament or something.

I am a RD and wealthy beyond my dreams. No matter how crappy of an event I put on you folks will pay for whatever I charge.. $55 for a 5k, $175 for a 1/2, $95 for a pump/run. I will give you a crappy $4.95 50/50 Beefy T and a $1.95 medal, water/bananas and bagels at the finish line. Sponsors pay for the swag, food, port a johns and insurance and your entry fees pay for my Range Rover and winter home in Cabo.

I will donate portions of the proceeds to a charity, about $.02 per entry but its the thought that counts

nice! Looks like it will not be long before these park runs are all over the states.

That's why we are quitting road races

If there is a free race we are in !!!

We would do 2-3 every month if they were reasonable

But 30-40 each time and there are 3 or 4 of us each time depending on schedules

So $90 minimum on a race day for 20 min of running

Ya its killed the sport !!!

Hobby jogger social hour so people pay it I guess but its killed the joy for us

And makes me angry because I have put on Races myself I know all that goes into it and there's no need for races to be that high it's just greed

Real runners don't take finishers medals!

You are just as guilty for price increase. The start up costs used to be $1500.

Second issue is you are telling people to ask city council to allow this? They won't - too much of liability issues

You know it's crazy when, from the first post on this thread until now, ALL road races have gone up $3...and it's only been a bit over 36 hours!!!!

Haha - yeah it's greed... just like

Police officers making money to protect people - That's just greed

Teachers making money to teach future generations - That's just greed

Doctors making money to save lives or to improve well being of others - That's just greed

Coaches making money trying to help people get better in a sport - That's just greed

Salespeople making money trying to persuade people to buy a product / service - That's just greed

Engineers making money by developing products - That's just greed

Athletes, Actors, and Artists making money by performing their gift - That's just greed

Consultants making money by giving their advice on how others should proceed - That's just greed

Government employees making money doing whatever they do for society's sake - That's just greed

Sanitation workers making money by picking up and cleaning stuff - That's just greed

Farmers making money by providing food that people need - That's just greed

Or maybe it's the free market and nobody is forcing you to pay anything? Maybe since it is hard for you to have it all and you have all sorts of first-world "problems", you whine and complain? Maybe the greedy one is the one who thinks everything should be given to them? Maybe you should enact the change that reverses the "killing of the sport" (lol) and revives it? Maybe the person or people who is responsible for the Joy in your lives is... gee... i dunno... you, maybe?

Nah... better to be a little bitty on LR and point the fingers at everyone else who is responsible for your unhappiness. Waaaa waaaaa waaaaa :(

If the chip timing is an important contributor to the rise in race fees, you’d think there would be a cost effective way to use data from each runner’s GPS watch to track runners. Maybe let runners wirelessly upload their data at the finish line?

On the plus side, it’d be harder to cut the course because races could see exactly the route you took.

Marco Esquandolas wrote:

If the chip timing is an important contributor to the rise in race fees, you’d think there would be a cost effective way to use data from each runner’s GPS watch to track runners. Maybe let runners wirelessly upload their data at the finish line?

On the plus side, it’d be harder to cut the course because races could see exactly the route you took.

You could also make every training run a race and call it Strava.

When I graduated from high school in 1962 in NYC, I started road running. I remember paying 35 cents for races. There was a big uproar when they increased the entry fee to 50 cents. However, no t shirts, no refreshments along the course, no police protection on the course and no finishers medals (the top few guys got a medal and sometimes a trophy). I think I paid $2 entry fee for my first Boston Marathon in 1964. A bunch of us drove up to Boston the morning of the Marathon and drove back that evening, no hotel expense. No Expo, no nothing. There were 550 starters. I got to chat with Auriele VanDendreise in the locker room after the race, in my fractured French. Anyways, times certainly have changed. Big business has taken over and we have lost a lot. I'm sorry that todays runners lost all of that. We used to run for fun. Now, its largely become a response to corporate propaganda. BTW, I'm now 74 and have been training and racing for 61 years. Its all good.

Is there zero nuance to a post like this? I mean it certainly feels like RDs have upped prices and that they’ve done very little by way of comped entries for elites and prize money. Some races are better than others but I don’t see RDs as teachers, I see them as CEOs. There’s prolly some nuance to my thought process but I find it hard to believe that they couldn’t be doing more good for the sport and I don’t think it’s complaining to ask those questions and to push for them to do so. I want a sport where more elites can get paid.

Yeah, perhaps I was a little aggressive in how I responded to the other guy who was claiming that high entry fees was ruining the sport and sucking all the joy of running away from him. I still think he is ridiculous, though. I would agree with you that RDs are more like CEOs than teachers, but more than that, they are simply event planners. Would it be smart for a CEO or event planner to take/earn less than what the market is willing to pay them? How in the world would this make any sense whatsoever? And, who would it help? You may want the RDs to help/pay more for elites, and maybe some won't even when they could, but they certainly will not if they can't. Being a race organizer may not be quite as lucrative as many on here believes. Further, I would say that many race directors, running store owners, and paid coaches are simply doing what you say you want for athletes - they were good athletes who have been figuring out a way to make money in a way that is at least tangentially related to running. Many if not most of them were decent runners, but the running wasn't going to pay the bills especially as they get older and have families (if it ever was), so what should they do now if they want to stay in the industry and make a living? Deciding to be poor and NOT responding to the market does not help anyone.

I am with you 100% that elites (and even what we would consider sub-elite) should make more money - Abso-freakin-lutely!! It is a travesty that guys who are good at ball sports earn what they do (no disrespect to the football, baseball, basketball players intended) when real athletes - distance runners - relatively earn peanuts. But, the answer isn't to gripe and complain, is it? We need to figure out a way. I know - KNOW - that if elites - people who had sway in the running community - approached an RD who I know and proposed a plan of how they were going to band together to promote and take his event to the next level, he would jump all over it and generously share the new profits with them. It would be pretty easy for them, and they would earn a lot more by doing it.

I get that it sucks that just running fast isn't enough. Apparently, the overall market doesn't care as much as you or I about fast distance running - again, totally sucks. But, it is what it is, and I think we should start thinking of ways to leverage the assets we have to make the most of it instead of crying about it.

Granted this may not be the closest race for a lot of people, but here is a gem in the modern day of marathon entry fees:

Rotterdam Marathon - 70 euros and FULLY REFUNDABLE until 45 days before the race. Not only that, except for London, it's the best race available in the month of April and no BS to get in along with coughing up 100s of dollars while you're at it.