Entry fee for 10k race

[Paul Frost]

After running the Paisley 10K today (my first ever road race) I decided that I would do another. The Great Scottish Run 10K is the next one, so I went online to enter, but was stunned by the entry fee, £23!

The Paisley run was £12 and that seems to be the going rate for a 10K.

Being new to road running, am I missing something and is that a reasonable price?

There were 20,000+ entries last year, so the total income is huge. I know there are a lot of expenses for a large event like this, but a large orienteering event probably costs more per person. So I can't see how anyone can think orienteering events are expensive.

Rant over.

[Angry Haggis]

Being new to road running, am I missing something and is that a reasonable price?

The major cost for "mass-participation" road races such as the Great Run events is the cost of closing the public roads.

I ran the Great Capital Run, it was expensive but very well organised and I enjoyed it hugely (especially the run-through shower at 5km.)

For value, you can't beat the UKTT 5K races every Saturday morning in various locations around south London - completely free.

[Kitch]

Not reasonable

indeed not typical for an average road race organised by a local club

but quite normal for anything "Great"

where the greatest thing is the price tag/ money raked in !

[ryeland of doom]

Another sales pitch for our wonderful sport.

More from your run and less from your pocket.

[roadrunner]

Agreed - £23 is way over the top for 10km. Even the London Marathon is only £32 (or £28 if you join an affiliated club).

As Angry Haggis says, road closures are a major part of the cost, and another significant one is chip timing, which all the big races (and many of the small ones) now have. This typically costs around £4 per runner.

[Adventure Racer]

This typically costs around £4 per runner.

Why so much when SI hire is typically only £1 a go? Cost of bits appears to be higher (was quoted £50 replacement for a chip on a bike event at the weekend), but not 4 times as much (and the fixed costs should be covered by lots more people).

That 10k race makes my 100 mile bike event seem good value at £27 (£5 straight to charity). I think we get used to our relatively cheap entries in orienteering!

[roadrunner]

This typically costs around £4 per runner.

Why so much when SI hire is typically only £1 a go?

Well, partly because the cost includes the start/finish mats and the people's time and travelling expenses to cover the event, produce the results etc. The other factor is that, as the normal practice is to send out chips ahead of time, you have to budget on losing a fair fraction of them due to non-runners. For the event I helped to organise, the chips cost £2.10 each plus VAT (and you pay for the lot even if you're under-subscribed), and the rest of it about another £1000 plus VAT.

[Snail]

Running clubs and/or organisers usually don't own the chips, so not only are they having to hire the chips for a single event, but also the cost of operating them. It is doubtful whether they would find such purchase economic when people are investigating alternatives, such as disposable chips integrated in running numbers, which might make the current chips redundant.

A few runners own their own chips, but the impression I get is not that many and not sure that you get an entry discount for doing so.

In contrast both orienteering clubs and orienteers have invested in the volunteer expertise, and in either SI and Emit kit at a level, sometimes in conjunction with neighbouring clubs, to be self-sufficient.

[Paul Frost]

My question is...

How can most events do all this for £12 with an entry of less than a 1,000 and yet an event with an entry of 20,000 needs to charge nearly twice as much?

Surely the economy of scale comes in here.

The major cost for "mass-participation" road races such as the Great Run events is the cost of closing the public roads.

As an aside, who gets the money when a public road is closed?
I didn't see many police around in Paisley, they all looked like volunteers manning the road junctions.
I got the impression from the Paisley event that it was being used to publicise the town as much as anything.

[johnloguk]

Until I see a detailed balance sheet for a big road race I'll continue to assume that they charge higher entry fees simply because the market can stand it. The same goes for other events that charge higher fees than orienteering events.

[housewife]

Most club runners would boycott this sort of race on the grounds that it is really bad for the sport. Having to spend £23 on a 10k enrty is not going to encourage a participant to go back again. Look on Scottish athletics website instead for a smaller, cheaper local race, although 10ks seem to be quite hard to come by in Scotland. Most of the hebridean islands have a half marathon at some time in the year, which make for truly fabulos weekend trips.

[epocian]

Paul
Try entering some Scottish hill races, far more reasonable fees
http://scottishhillracing.co.uk/Fixtures.aspx