OK, it is a nice souvenir from the event, but how long do you wear it? For few minutes after crossing the finish line and maybe at the award winning dinner, if there is one. Then they end up in a drawer or in a basket. Maybe you put them on the wall. But that is it. You don’t really revisit them and look at them, don’t you?
What are the thoughts? Should we bother giving them out and instead give something that can be used, like a hat, a small backpack…whatever.
To some, they matter a lot. To many on this board, not so much - but don’t discount how difficult some of these events (i.e. Ironman) is for some people. You simply don’t know a person’s background that take 16+ hours to finish.
At IMLP a few years back, I went back in the rain (with Record10 no less) to cheer on the late finishers. It wasn’t my first IM, but I like the late finish line excitement about as much as any other part of the “IM weekend”. As usual, at midnight, they start immediately taking down the stands, finish line stuff, etc. A middle aged women finished at around 12:05 or something to the cheers of her family only as she stumbled across the line. I ran up to her and hung my medal around her neck, she hugged me, and I went on my way (trying to wipe the tears in my eyes). I looked back to see her “celebrating” with her family not sure if she knew she had finished after the cut off or not, but it didn’t really matter. We both had a great feeling there and I won’t ever forget it.
So, yeah, the medal CAN matter to some 
For what it’s worth I cut the ribbons off them, epoxy a magnet on the back and stick 'em on the fridge. Something to look at in the morning. It’s more the ‘body of work’ than any individual medal.
I have boxes of medals from swimming, I don’t need anymore thanks.
In the one race where I placed 3rd OA (not the biggest, and not the best competition) they weren’t giving out medals or plaques, but a pint glass. I never cared about it before, but dammit, just that one time I wanted my friggin medal.
I can honestly say that all of my metals of finisher shirts have never been worn (10x IM, Kona 3x), and are sitting in a box somewhere it’s the memories that mean the most not the piece of metal or plastic (in the case of IMC).
Save the energy, reduce the fee or spend the money on a sponsor free awesome race shirt.
I love my finishers medals. I don’t expect them for races less than half IM distance but for half and above I would be dissapointed if I didn’t get a finishers medal.
I only wear them for an hour or two after the race but I have a nice little display in my home office for them.
OK, it is a nice souvenir from the event, but how long do you wear it? For few minutes after crossing the finish line and maybe at the award winning dinner, if there is one. Then they end up in a drawer or in a basket. Maybe you put them on the wall. But that is it. You don’t really revisit them and look at them, don’t you?
What are the thoughts? Should we bother giving them out and instead give something that can be used, like a hat, a small backpack…whatever.
You want thoughts?
Search the forum. Every year there is a thread about medals.
There are hundreds of threads about medals.
.
@ rroof: that is/wwas@very cool of you to do!
I donate all my medals to www.medals4mettal.org (nno, I am not affiliated with them in any way)
Overall, they don’t mean much to me, but maybe they can help brighten a kid’s day. That being said, I just finished my first IM last weekend, aand that medal is hanging around the neck of a huge wooden giraffe in my hhouse. Not sure when I’ll be ready to part with that one…
Hypothetically, if you had two identical races where one gave out a finishing medal and the other didn’t I would race the one without the medals. That is not going to happen, so it doesn’t really matter from a practical standpoint.
Anyone who does races even occasionally is going to have enough race crap, races without medals and tee shirts are a bonus.
I give my medals to my young nephews. This started last fall after Rev3 FullRev in Cedar Point. Because Rev3 lets you cross the finish line with family (which is awesome), I asked my cousin’s son, who was 3 at the time, if he’d like to do a race with me. My cousin had him at the finish chute and he ran with me down the chute. The finish line volunteers even lowered the tape so that he could break it, and I thought that was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever experienced in a race. I asked them to put the medal around his neck instead of mine. Anyway, he enjoys it a lot more than I ever will, and hopefully he’ll be reminded of it as he grows up and takes on adventures of his own.
So to answer your question, I think in races like those held by Rev3 where you can cross the line with your son, daughter, cousin, whoever; it’s pretty cool to have a finisher’s medal, even if it’s not even worn by you.
rroof, good job! That was a great move. At Eagleman one year they gave out finisher’s mugs. I thought it was great but they got a lot of complaints from the people who wanted a medal!?
Races are not about finishing for me, so I don’t really care about the medal. Anything you can do to reduce the price of admissions is a good thing. However, it is important to others, so I don’t know how you would resolve this.
Chad
I think a finisher’s medal that actually does something is pretty cool.
How about a bottle-opener medal? Or a bike multitool?
Grand Columbian’s medals multitask as belt buckles.
Spend the money on a sponsor free awesome race shirt.
Oh yes! Something that will promote your event but not transform us into billboards.
RE: medals, so many people are different… If it’d even possible you may want to put medal vs xxx as a registration choice, but managing a race may be complicated already 
My sentiments exactly. There’s one race in my area where they don’t hand out any medal on trophy for placing and I’ve placed the past two years in my AG. This year I did the sprint and Oly in a weekend and placed in both but didn’t get a medal or so to show for it.
Medals-- for me-- not at all. Their all stuffed in various drawers and I never look at them. I think I’d rather have a hat or a running LED light or gloves or something useful, but with a logo that you could show off.
I think a finisher’s medal that actually does something is pretty cool.
How about a bottle-opener medal? Or a bike multitool?
That would be awesome.
Most of my medals are in a drawer.
My IMNZ 2004 medal (20th Anniversary) is nicely framed. My mothers BF at the time, was a picture framer. My brother is a freelance photographer. He did some nice shots of me. I got 3 photos, plus the medal in a nice deep frame on my wall.
I also had him put my Timex IM watch in a deep frame also. I had my name and IM PB time engraved on the back. The battery died and it’s really just a plastic watch, but in 100 years, I’m hoping my great great grandson will look at it on his wall and smile when he thinks that his long dead great great grandfather did something cool, but be annoyed that he wasted all his money on triathlon, rather than passing it down to him as an inheritance! LOL
For me (and probably others) things like medals, finishers shirts and such, are really just memory triggers. When I look at my framed finishers medal (the rest are just in my sock drawer) I remember a different thing from that day. I either grimmace in pain, or smile, depending on which memory it triggers.