i understand you frustration. when i used to race, one of the prizes was a cool polo shirt with the logo of the race on it. i must have 5 of them. but all men's shirts and they never had small. i threw them all away or used them as rags. As a race director now, i make sure there are lots of women's t shirts. buying women's t shirts cost more money for directors, but by spending a little more money, i am hoping it encourages women to come out and compete. it's just another example for the female populations being under served. or people saying. "oh she wouldn't mind a large shirt". You the consumer, pay a lot to do the race. you should get a shirt you can wear.

Contact the RD and suggest that that improvement can be made for the race. However, please be polite about it.

As an RD myself, I added female-specific t-shirts to my race this year, and while 80% of the women appeared to like it, the other 20% complained the shirts were too small, too short and didn't fit them right. You really can't win, as an RD, trust me.

Edit: sorry I just saw that you said IMC...doubt the RD can make any changes about that! Still I think you should write to someone and encourage any other women who felt the same way to do so.

It's happened to me before too. I finished IMLP a few years ago and the only shirts left at the finish were large or XL - men's, of course. I sew, so I tailored the shirt to fit me. Most folks don't have that as an option.

I actually prefer the men's shirts because of the cut. I can't stand that form fit of women's shirts.
And, while I'm at it....I so wish that they'd offer a cotton option.

I'm with you. Hate that I can never wear the race shirts given out. On race thought I got a kids XL or L and it fit pretty well. That obviously isn't available in this case but something to think about for future races.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Definitely email the RD (yes, even though the RD is changing next year). I ended up with a men's medium finisher's shirt after IMNYC that was way too large. At the time, I was so exhausted and dehydrated, I lacked the motivation to do anything about it. I emailed the RD a few days later, explaining that I'd ended up with a shirt that was way too large. They sent me a women's large the day they got my e-mail, and it fits perfectly. No harm in trying, and they may have some extra stock lying around, which simply wasn't available to the volunteer who handed you your "too large" shirt.

Thanks for the replies. I will do as you suggested and email the RD. a lot of my local races let you pick your shirt size when you sign up, and you can specify men's or women's, for those who prefer the men's cut. Youth large also works if women's are too expensive. But for this race with the crazy expensive reg fees, I don't think it is expecting a lot to get a shirt at the finish. I came in under 14 hours, so not the very back of the pack. Women after me only got men's large shirts. Again the shirt really isn't the reason I race and usually isn't a priority, but I think it is a bigger issue of the women racers being an after thought that bugs me.

I turn my too-small or too-large race shirts into wall art. Similar to this: http://craftsncoffee.com/...t-wall-art-tutorial/

Yes, I'm with you Sammie. Of all the races I've entered, I've only had race shirts fit me 1/4 of the time. It seems that even if you register 6 months ahead of time and state your size, that they "run out" of small shirts and give you a shirt that goes down to your knees. They should hold your shirt size for you and NOT GIVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE until registration is over. I've got a Tour de Victoria shirt in XL for an event that I registered for five months in advance that I can belt and wear as a dress. When I went to pick up my registration packet they'd run out of all sizes but XL. This was six hours before registration closed. All of these events are for athletic people, aren't they? Well then, why don't they ever order enough small size shirts? Are all triathletes and runners incredibly big or fat? There is an abundance of XL and L, and no medium or small left.

OR they have a unisex cut which is unquestionably for men since the small is so swimmingly large that it bags out like a sail. Not ideal for a wicking shirt, when it is not against your skin.

What they should do is allow you to order your size, and specify women or men's cut. If women want to order a men's shirt, they should be able to do so. I prefer a women's cut.

You bring up some excellent points, and yes, this is how it should be done. I'm not sure what happens for the BIG IM races with 2,000 participants, but let me tell you- as an RD it is quite difficult to get the right amount of shirts ordered.

There are the wonderful people who register months in advance. By 6 weeks out for the race I am in charge of, only 100 people had signed up. It sold out at 400 the day before the race. I had to order the t-shirts 6 weeks out and only had the size distribution of those 100 people, so I extrapolated those 100 sizes (basically multiplied by 4) and added a few extra- and yes, I went for adding more XL and L than smalls and mediums.

However, the 400 people who ended up racing did not have the same size distribution as those initial 100, it turned out. I did my best. I sorted by registration date and made sure to fill those goodie bags first with the sizes they requested, first. However, once people picked up their goodie bags, and saw the shirts, I got about 20% who wanted to exchange- and now what do I do? Take a shirt from someone who registered later? Take a shirt from someone who hasn't picked up their goodie bag yet? Tell them 'no'? Tell them to come back after the race?

As you can see, it's a giant headache. All I ask is that everyone please be polite when dealing with RDs, even if you think they are ridiculous and not doing their job right. Most are volunteers.

However, the 400 people who ended up racing did not have the same size distribution as those initial 100, it turned out. I did my best. I sorted by registration date and made sure to fill those goodie bags first with the sizes they requested, first. However, once people picked up their goodie bags, and saw the shirts, I got about 20% who wanted to exchange- and now what do I do? Take a shirt from someone who registered later? Take a shirt from someone who hasn't picked up their goodie bag yet? Tell them 'no'? Tell them to come back after the race?

I have an answer for your question about the folks who want to exchange: Tell them no, too bad, so sad. It was their fault they ordered the wrong size. However, give them the option to make the exchange within the two hours after the race is done and all shirts have been distributed, so they can choose from all the extra shirts, (which are all XL and L!!! hAHAHA!) If someone cannot understand that the size they ordered is what they get, well, too bad. Another thing you might want to do is not just specify the sizes when they order, but the exact measurements of the sizes. Everyone knows their chest and waist size. That way they know exactly what size shirt they will be getting.

Definitely what not to do: take a shirt out of the goodie bags of those who have not picked up yet! Or of those who registered later. Yikes!!!! That way, people who register early and or/specified the correct size don't get screwed over. Not a good reward for registering early, is it? That is why I freak about trying to get there when registration opens because I know that kind of stuff happens.

As for those registering last minute, they cannot expect to get the correct sizing. That is a given. Your idea of extrapolating based on the size distribution of early registrants isn't a bad idea.

Most race registrations specify that if you register past a certain date you will not be guaranteed the correct race shirt sizing--further incentive to register early. For those who register early, it makes no sense to not even have enough shirts to give to them. Those should be pre-reserved.

You'll never have perfect distribution, but this would be the most *fair* way to do it.

This is a subject very dear to my heart.

It pisses me off beyond belief when I enter a race and they ask me for my t-shirt size then when I go to register/finish the race they say they have run out of my size. Surely it is simple - X amount of people put down a certain size - order that many of that size!!!!!
The one that annoyed me that most was at IMNZ last year I put my size down as XS and when I stumbled my way to the finish they said they had run out of XS and gave me a S which was of course too big. Once I had regained my higher brain power I realized that there were probably only about 40 women ahead of me and maybe 5 of them would have requested an XS but they had run out by the time they got to me?! More like they never ordered any. I have another t-shirt in the same brand which fits me perfectly so they do make women's XS.
Luckily Mum is very handy at making things smaller and is becoming an expert at nipping and tucking race shirts so that they fit.

I'll chime in too. Our local running RD is really good about ordering shirts and setting aside shirts for pre-registered runners, so that you get what you ordered. If what you ordered doesn't fit, you can only swap it for shirts in the extra "whatever is left" pile for same day registrants. If he can get it right as a one man operation, I just can't fathom how the big tri companies can't. Seriously, my first iron distance race I got two shirts (at registration and a finishers shirt) and both are way too big (only "unisex" available, and in that cut, a small swallows me up). It really ticked me off. Of course, there were women's cut generic race shirts available for sale....

And yes, I would also like a cotton option.

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No coasting in running and no crying in baseball

I don't care one way or the other, but if you're gonna do female sizing make sure we know when we put down our shirt size. But then there are so many variations to sizing that it's hard to guess. More and more races are doing female specific shirts and some are kinda cute. I did an xterra tri as a relay recently and the shirt is super cute (the style)...v neck with frayed edges around the neck. I usually don't care for race shirts, but I hunted one down for this race. Wearing it right now. I kinda want to find out where I can get some plain shirts like it.

Thanks for your insight and I love how you have neatly tied this in a box. Have you ever actually dealt with people?! They are CRAZY. And largely well...dumb. Yes, I said it. They don't read the information provided about the brand, style and type of shirts posted six months in advance. They don't take responsibility for not reading this information. It was obviously MY fault that their shirt didn't fit them, as they screamed at me at the registration booth. People are nuts.

There will always be complainers- size, style, color, design of shirts, type of gu, font is too small on race results, started three minutes late, not enough parking, course too hilly, course too easy, garmin said course too short, or too long. My fault they got lost. I've heard it all.

Please thank your RDs when you think they do a good job. And when they don't, well, please be tactful. :) Thanks!

Well, yes, I have dealt with people before. Sigh. They are crazy. They are stupid. I've spent ample time in service industries when I was a student. But it is still not right to screw the sane people by giving away reserved shirts.

I have learned something from this thread, and it is to be a crazy person to get the right size shirt. I need to yell at the RD to get the right size. Who knew? ;-)

What I am curious about is how was the distribution of shirt sizes for late registrants different from the early registrant size distribution? Were there more smalls? Less? More larges? I am curious how different it was.

Yes, I completely agree with you! Not cool to screw the sane people.

However, it's true- the squeaky wheel gets the grease. The few people who literally screamed at me, well, let's just say it's really, really hard not to just placate them and get them out of my face. One lady found a teeny tiny defect in her shirt- like a small unthreaded section of the seam, to get my attention she grabbed my arm so hard that it hurt and left a giant red mark. She yelled at me that I need to get a better quality vendor. Now that is crazy.

To answer your question about the distribution of sizes; well, I found that more women registered early (~55% women when the race was 100 people), and the final distribution ended up being ~48% women. (Women plan ahead! Heck yeah!) And, despite posting the brand, style and sizing chart of the t-shirt vendor, many women ordered the wrong size. The shirts were similar I'd say to the Nike women's sizing, where an extra small is a true extra small- like for women <5'4'' tall and <120 lbs. However, for some reason women who should have ordered a L or XL ordered mediums, those that should have ordered mediums ordered XS. Not sure why. Maybe they were so used to huge men's sizes. But the order form clearly stated "women's style" IF you choose. They could order men's if they wanted.

So, I had a bunch of angry women who couldn't fit into their shirts. I mean, I understand. Too small is worse than too big. I did exchanges the best I could, first come, first serve, with the "extras." However, I ended up with a ton of left over xs and smalls. Interesting huh! Not what you'd expect.

Anyway, my conclusion is that people don't read the fine print. Or the large print. Or really read at all. And they are mostly angry when they don't get what they want. Right that second.

I was given a Men's Large shirt at the finish line of IMC, although I am <110 lbs. I emailed NAS, and I just got a reply that they are ordering more shirts and will send a smaller one to me at my home address. So, Sammie, if you still want one that fits (or almost fits), send them a msg.

npda, yours is a good example of how things can go wrong if you do everything right.

I wonder if your experience is common among RDs.

Maybe when they choose a shirt size, display it like this:


Choose preferred shirt size:

Women XS (33-26-34, 5'0 to 5'3, 100-120 lbs): _______
Women S (34-27-35, 5'2 to 5'5, 117-130 lbs): _____
...
Men XS (34-28-34, etc.....): ______


Perhaps they were so lazy (and dumb) that they did not click on the size chart you provided? I would think that making it easy for them and having the measurements right beside the box to tick, that it would help protect you from morons and lazy people?

I also note that most races don't have a picture of the proposed shirt.

Good luck with organizing your next race... maybe you made the loonies irate enough so that they stay away for the next one! I can just imagine a bunch of size M women outraged that there are no vanity sizes that they're used to... and their rage originating from realizing they're truly an M instead of an XS!

Brilliant! I like it. Thanks!

I think my experience is somewhat common. But to be an effective RD you need to be able to let this stuff roll off your shoulders. It's not easy for me to do that. Most RDs I know are SO laid back. I think you have to be to deal with the people complain, scream and make crazy accusations.

Thank you Gee! I had emailed Ironman, but I didn't have much hope that I'd hear back from them. I will follow up with NAS. Congrats on your race!

Good to hear! I got an XL shirt and was thinking that the only way to wear it was to get someone to literally rebuild it for me in a size Small - I'm not so keen to wear a tent, but hey, I want to wear that FINISHER 2012 shirt now and then! I'll email NAS too.

I emailed both Ironman and NAS and I heard back from Ironman first. The response I got said they were going to order more shirts and can send me a smaller one, and they asked me to mail back the men's medium shirt that I got at the finish. Were you asked to mail back the shirt you got? I don't mind giving up the shirt of course, no way I can fit it and it still has the tags. But I'm not happy about the annoyance of packing up and mailing off the shirt. I know it isn't a big deal, but I never go to the post office these days and it is a hassle. Seems pretty tacky to me seeing that they are the ones that messed up and again, registration was $700, I think they can afford the extra shirt. But whatever, I'll send it back. Just wondering if anyone else got the same response?

This annoys me to no end. All of the races I have been to and most of the time the shirts go to charity. Last year at Kona even the men's smalls were too big for me and XS wasn't an option. I don't wear men's shirts anyway, so I suppose it didn't really matter what size I got.
I usually email RD's and complain when they don't have women's sizes.