I was looking around for a run to do this weekend and only found a 5K that is in the city. It is $25.00 for the same day registration. It would be a fun way for me and my wife to spend some time together (she runs marathons) but I don’t know that would be $50.00 for both us and it would only last about 16 min.
Are 5K races really worth that much or should we just go out and run together for an hour instead. Thoughts
$50 buys a cheap hotel room.
Depends on the race and venue. We typically pay $20. CDN (about $16. US) for our local area 5/10 kms and get a T-shirt, a top three AG medal if you place, some food and gatorade at the end and various draw prices. One time I won a pair of $139. dollar shoes for “middle of the pack” award. Not a bad investment for twenty bucks.
$25 is on the high end around here, but sometimes you get a lot for the money. Last 5K we were treated to hot dinner buffet and live band. See what the perks are before you dis it.
i just want to make sure…
is it the “about” 16 minutes for a 5K you are at issue with?
or the associated cost to do a 5K in “about” 16 minutes?
i’m kinda thinking i’d love to spend $25, x’s 2 even, to show whoever else shows up i/we can do a 5K in “about” 16…
If you run slower you will get more race for your money.
Usually these things are to raise money for some charity or something. It is pretty much a matter of economics for you to
decide if it is worth it to you to do it.
You could probably come up with more fun ways to spend 16 minutes with your wife though. Cheaper, too.
yeh, it would probally be worth it show all those “hard core runners” that we triathletes can hold our own even we did not warm up with a 1 mile swim and a 50 mile bike before the run. My wife says we can just consider it a donation to the charity and get a shirt to boot.
Is the race supporting a charity or something? I don’t feel bad about paying a bit more if it is for a good cause. It just gets annoying when you are paying a lot to make somebody rich, like an MDOT race.
$25 might not be out of line. Depending on the venue and other factors there can be a lot of hidden costs. I put on a couple of 10K trail runs and believe me everyone had their hand out. I had to pay the park, insurance, equipment rental, medical, awards, food, t-shirts, etc. I also found out quickly that runners are not like triathletes when it comes to race fees. Without a major cash sponsor I needed to charge $25 just to have a chance of breaking even. When I was out promoting at other races I had people hand the race flyer back to me and say “I don’t pay more than $20 for a race”. It made it tough to put on a good quality event.
BTW: I lost money every year
Gary MC
well the run may be only 20 min but by the time you get there early, run, hang out afterwards it’s actually not bad per hour.
$25 isn’t out of the park especially for race day entry, I think that’s what I charged for hte one and only 5k I put on. 5K’s generally aren’t big profit machines unless they have a huge title sponsor, so I really doubt you’re getting ripped off. Sure seems that way until you actually put one on though, damn those costs add up.