I work in sales and let’s just say commissions are way down this year but I’ve already signed up for certain races and can’t decide if I should just “eat the cost of registration” and race closer to home and in smaller races. I hate the fact that we have to sign up for races so far in advance that we lose flexibility to change because of injury, jobs, home stuff or now finances.
Do you think races will ever realize that nobody wants to sign up a year in advance anymore? (not that there was a time that I wanted to sign up that far in advance its just that we had no choice.)
Now I’m even going to be hesitant to sign up for races in 2010 and by then all this financial mess might be behind us but I will have missed out on registration deadlines.
I now would not be suprised if IM events do not sell out in hours.
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Interestingly enough, there are still slots available to all the American IMs through the Community Fund. In years past these were snapped up within days; no longer. Now I know that there are more slots this year in the CF, but still… I’m just sayin’
I read the article and as a fellow CPA I agree with the logic and the article does make some sense (i.e. the sunk cost of 525), however, if your comfortable with your job. Do the race. Take Lake Placid as an example, its close to NYC and Boston, you will always find 2500 people to do the race each year. I’m doing IMAZ in November, and have thought about the costs many times, but I’m in, and it was tough to get in, 15 or 20 minutes until it closed out. Unfortunately for the Lake Placid people, there is very little there, so it will cost. I could see the 70.3’s being cheaper, I signed up for Florida and am having 2’nd thoughts as it does not have the same “emotion” to it, but its Disney and the kids want to go. The other issue, not many Iron distance races out there, so unless your lucky, you have to commit early. Sucks, but its life.
As a guy who pays CPA’s a lot of money so I can keep as much of mine as uncle sam will allow me too, I’ve gotta say love the point of view but if your worried about loosing 1 or 2 k after spending thousands already, ENJOY life and spend the money and rip the race up!!
I’m with you on Hotel costs. I checked Hampton Inn in Coeur d’Alene for Wednesday before the race. Rate was $139/night. Thursday, goes up to $329/night and its still 4 miles from the race. Ridiculous. Turns out the $500 race entry was the cheap part. Didn’t realized that housing, bike transport, airfare, rental car, food, etc would be so much. Fortunately, I can pay for it, but I keep wondering how many good athletes are excluded from these races because of the gouging?
As you said, the entry fee is the most inexpensive part of doing an IM. Frankly, I don’t know how that many persons in this economy, or even before, could afford to fork out the dollars required for an IM - 4-5 nights, airplane travel for self and the rest of the family, food, all the equipment purchased leading up to the race, etc etc. IM is a luxury, and I would also agree that many persons will be more inclined to do their local races this year than race the travel IM event.
I find that if you are willing to drive 15-20 minutes from the race host hotel, you can find reasonable hotel prices. Did it at the Longhorn tri, and I did it when I volunteered at IM WI last fall. I can’t see paying more than $100 per night for a hotel room that I will only spend my sleeping hours in. I think my hotel room was $70/night last year in Madison.
Admittedly, there is a huge convenience factor in being at the hotel where the event is staged (like IM WI), but that comes at a cost. You’ve got to ask ourself if the room is worth the cost.
Check out Silverman. You can sign up for full or half and flights to/from Vegas are always cheap from anywhere in the US. Same goes for hotel rooms. Plus you get about $100 in cool swag.
I’m in the same boat. I’m signed up for Lake Placid, but I’m thinking of pulling out and entering Vineman instead. I live in the SF Bay area, and I figure if I do Vineman, there will be no airfare, cheaper hotels, won’t have to ship the bike, etc. The registration for LP is a sunk cost - I can get $150 back and apply that to Vineman’s registration fee. I was looking forward to all the fanfare of a branded IM, but I’m thinking it’s not worth it.
I live in Chicago and for me IMF was very inexpensive, IMAZ was moderate, and IMLP is expensive. IMCdA will be on the expensive side if I hadn’t got a free ticket.
IMF – drive 1K miles to/from the event in a fuel efficient car, stay in cheap hotels for the minimum amount of nights, and dine cheaply. Total was near $1K including race entry.
IMAZ – flew and tribike. Cheap rental car and cheap hotel. $1.5K including race entry.
IMLP – drive 1K miles to/from event in a fuel efficent car, stay in cheap motels outside of Placid, and dine cheaply. $2K including race entry.
IMCdA – fly and tribike. Driving with my sister across washington state. Cheap hotel. $2K approximate.
If you can avoid flying you save $250 in bike transportation and $300 in rental cars beyond the flight cost which can be $$$. Hotels other than Placid are an easy way to save money as it easily can be $400+ and still be < 2 miles from transition.
Overall no matter where you live in the US you can find an ironman where the assundries don’t cost much more than the race entry.
Do a self supported IM. I’ve done a couple. They are definitely harder than a sanctioned and totally free. Great opportunity to test yourself when funds are tight.
I would be curious to know what the average total expenditures were for the average participant in an Ironman including all travel, meals, merchandise, transport, race fees, hotels, etc.
I bet it is a lot more than people think prior to signing up for the race.
So if we go back to the budget items in the original blog post and list it out, that would be information that might help people out for 2009 and 2010. We think the expensive part is the race registration fee. That is the cheap part.
