Rip-off entry fees
burgers
Posts: 2
in General Chat
Looking ahead to the 2009 season of races, i cant help but feel that so many organisers are completely ripping people off, with many events costing over £60 before you have even travelled, parked, stayed over etc.
Am I alone in thinking that these prices are unreasonable? I do a few triathlons 'up north' and down on the Cornish coast etc, and they average between £20 and £40, including events with a sea swim, so how can a triathlon in a man-made lake cost up to 3 times that? And dont get me started on London Triathlon ...
Am I alone in thinking that these prices are unreasonable? I do a few triathlons 'up north' and down on the Cornish coast etc, and they average between £20 and £40, including events with a sea swim, so how can a triathlon in a man-made lake cost up to 3 times that? And dont get me started on London Triathlon ...
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Comments
Entry fees are expensive, but there are lots of overheads.
I guess the bottom line is market forces. If no-one enters entry fees will have to come down in subsequent years (alternatively, races will not take place).
If there are cheaper races about enter these and avoid the expensive ones.
Personally i dont mind if the money appears a) to have been spent wisely on the event e.g. road closures, stewarding, facilities etc and b) maybe some charitable element
What i hate is excessive fees with little to show for it (Run to the Beat 2008!!)
I imagine Tri is more costly than say a half marathon with transition etc. That said Tri appears to be enjoying more sponsorship
Draft busters on motorbikes, tons of marshals, St Johns, Police, big transition area, local authorities to bribe for road closures and bus diversions......................I could go on............
Triathlon isnt cheap, the gear, events, travel blah blah blah. OK so some (humanrace!!!!!!!!!!!) take the piss and charge mega bucks for entry, BUT!!!!! they are usually impeccably well organised races. If you dont want to stump up the fees dont do the race.
[color=#1d1d1d]Paying that kind of money to run around in circles at Dorney I don’t agree with, when I can spend half that in ‘sunny’ Conrwall.[/color]
[color=#1d1d1d]I just think that if I want to enter a few races over the summer, it becomes a small fortune.[/color]
For someone like me who finds the swim p**s easy but need to work on the bike and run they're perfect, and at less than £30 I can actually afford to do them, too.
For that money you get plenty of friendly marshals, bike mounted draft-busters, decent venues and transition areas. Great.
Where "up north"?
Ripon,Cleveland,Hatfield,all good reasonably priced events.
Rippon and Cleveland - properly North! Sadly any savings in entry fees would be eaten up for me by extra travel costs [:D]
Deva and Bala tris are organised by tri clubs, Chester (which I'm a member of) and Wrexham respectively, not by commercial organisations. No idea how much profit they make though.
I agree it would be nice if they were cheaper of course.
65 euros is about sixty pounds anyway at the moment!
This amazes me just how much athletes are in the dark about organising events. Organisers have to pay for : insurance, venue hire, food for volunteers, timing devices, road closures, hire of equimment (barriers, racks, cones etc), purchase of equipment (road closure tape, first aid kits) PA hire, administartion costs, trophies ....
Two points
1. Triathlon is actually on par with other sports - you get a reasonable return for your money. In rowing some venues (even at top end) are spartan and if you don't win you get nothing for your money!
2. The ,for want of a better term, tight-fisted attitude to sport ruins your enjoyment of it. The fact is that the sport, its kit and the actual execution of the sport costs what it costs - accept it as an investment in your self-improvement, get on with it and enjoy it. You miserable shower!
No peletons in a non-drafting race though (at least if there are enough marshalls!). I don't know if roads get closed in races here where drafting is permitted? I get the impression the triathlon is a much bigger deal in continental Europe than over here, so there's more sponsorship available to pay fror events? Closing 25 miles of road here would cost a fairly chunky sum I'm guessing.
There's also the fact that even on an open road event you'll still have some smaller area around transition that needs to be closed or marshalled. You also need to inform the police of what you're doing so they can pay special attention. Guess what? They charge you for it.
Some local events in my neck of the woods have been threatened with closure or actually closed because of these rising costs: Wimborne sprint tri has stopped, Stubbington 10K was under threat this year, Eastleigh 10k only goes ahead because of sponsorship from B&Q and there are others.
Given the amazing levels of organisation involved I think £30-£50 is pretty reasonable for a tri, and £60-£80 for a unique location like Blenheim, Windsor or London seems fair too. It is a fair chunk of cash, but this sport costs what it costs and the whole event is far more than the sum of its parts. You can't compare to the individual costs of a swim, bike or run race.
Given the credit crunch (and the job crunch!) I'll be entering just a few races this year, so I'm going to make sure I get my damned money's worth! [8D]
But it's seems to me in the south west to be fair - the Aquathon series is £12 a race and I did the 100 mile Exmoor beast last year and it was only £35 - which a 100 mile marshalled route and a tankard inc beer is pretty good value.
actually I normally only enter event that come with a free t-shirt......I nearly have a full wardrobe! [;)]
It involves talk about not doing the expensive IM-label races if you find it too much.
Or one could use the other tips to save money to still do the expensive races?
It's all up to yourself.
PS: or you could ask treefrog to donate a bike to you!![:)](just kidding froggy, I know you'd defend those Cervélo beauties with your own life[image]http://forum.220magazine.com/micons/m6.gif[/image][8D]).
Other countries are more prosport and therefore when they host events they get greater sponsorship, better government backing, and community support (all Euo IM events are supported by local schools etc) and there is not the same claim culture so insurance is cheaper!
Just dissapointed with some of the cr@p goodie bags at the end (or lack of them), often club runnning events can be better with t-shirts, food and drink etc. A t-shirt of the advent is free advertising for future ones.