Runner's World Magazine - Clubhouse

proper bo

13/12/2012 at 19:35

What's happened to this once fine magazine?

I have been a subscriber for quite a few years and years and now read it from front to cover in less than 5 minutes.

The cover price is now an unbelieveable £4.50!

Out of 116 pages 36 are adverts.

The letters page seems to be a self promotion for RW.

The rave run photo is invariably from outside the UK.

Paul Tonkinson is not funny.

Have you noticed they don't have race reports anymore? (they have probably done this to save money on a photographer).

The only thing left is the Race Finder (which is listed by date and not county). I think I could read it in 4 minutes if they sorted this out.

I could go on but I think you get the idea...

runnersbeen

14/12/2012 at 12:34

Think you have just answered your own question

the dude abides

14/12/2012 at 12:36

i quite like tonks.

but yeah..

fat buddha

14/12/2012 at 13:12

"I have been a subscriber for quite a few years and years"

I'm surprised you lasted that long......

Dave The Ex- Spartan pirate

pirate

14/12/2012 at 13:13

I forget that there's still a mag

Colin McLaughlin

14/12/2012 at 13:55

proper bo wrote on 21 November 2011:

I sent an email to the edidor in July as follows:

"I've been a subscriber for a number of years and can now get through the magazine in about 10 minutes.

I have some observations and recomendations:

I would like to see more letters, including web forum, 3 pages would be nice.

Add a 'Club feature' ie: have a monthly feature about a running club and what they are doing-this would attract more members to clubs.

I notice the race reports has decreased, I would like to see this increase.

Murphy's Lore column is interesting and thought provoking but Tonky Talk is just drivel (bring back the Penguin).

I don't like the regular reports (quarterly I think) from the elites-Leave this to Athletics Weekly.

Change the 'Race Finder' from Date/County to County/Date."

I didn't expect this to be printed as the 'star' letter in the magazine but a reply would have been nice.

I'm impressed you got your reading time down from "about ten minutes" to "less than five minutes" in the space of 17 months, Proper Bo.

We will all look forward to hearing from you next Christmas about some new, even faster P.B. you have managed to set for yourself.

RunningInPleasePass

14/12/2012 at 13:57

After the 1st year you're set for the year after etc. It all repeats

acdcgirl

14/12/2012 at 16:43

I haven't bothered to read for ages and don't miss it at all.

Dicky M

14/12/2012 at 16:58

Ooh don't say that - I've just paid £16 for a Montane jacket.

and 6 months subscription

seren nos

pirate

14/12/2012 at 17:10

dicky thats a great deal.... if its the montane featherlight they are worth £40 and are really good... the 3 of us who are runners in this house have one

Dicky M

14/12/2012 at 17:23

It is - took a while to find the link, but jacket arrived in a couple of days !

Colin McLaughlin

14/12/2012 at 19:08

Where's the link?

Stevie G .

14/12/2012 at 19:10

The race listing used to be a lot better, it had all the little details. Then they really reduced the section, so you'd have to use this site to find out.

The race reviews was always an interesting section, but then they started mucking about doing adventure races, or some wacky marathons a million miles from home that only a few would ever do.

Would like to see them do loads more race reviews, just of normal races. There are 1,000s a year after all!

Nykie

14/12/2012 at 23:17

I just re-read my old copies from when I subscribed in 2007-2009. On the odd occasion I buy a new copy, I find they haven't changed since 2007-2009 but the races seem to be on different days...

Wilkie

15/12/2012 at 11:55

I stopped reading it years ago. After a couple of years it's just the same stuff regurgitated year after year.

I suppose there's only so much you can say about running.

Tom.

16/12/2012 at 15:30

RW is no different from most lifestyle magazines in that the core material really doesn't change much from one years end to another. It's designed for new comers to the sport, and to be fair when I came back to the sport ten years ago it helped me get back in touch and recognise that running had then (and now) become, in the main, a health and fitness activity.

Threads such as this appear very frequently (see later comment), and I've always defended the perceived short comings, of the magazine voiced in such threads, as being the price (and of course you don't have to buy the mag if you don't to) that you pay to having access to the benefits of the RW forum.

Sadly I'm starting to think that the forum is now starting to become as tired as the magazine, in that over the ten years of my engagement the forum has covered endlessly every topic that I could possibly have an opinion on. Eventually you get fed up posting your own tired old replies to other peoples tired old questions, and get to feeling that you should leave it to those who have yet to become old, cynical and disenchanted with the whole process.

Ironically the threads I'm most inclined to engage with these days are those related to music and movies, and there are precious few of them (well it is a runners forum!).

Emilys Dad

16/12/2012 at 20:56

Have to agree with the posts above, I subscribed for a couple of years but got sick of the same features with a different name.

You don't need to subscribe to the mag to be able to access the race list, you can do it via this website as a member.

I don't want to read about a bare footed runner, cant run barefooted myself so why do I need to know that it is "refreshing", etc

niloc senoj 15

17/12/2012 at 22:02

It was the same for me,i subscribed for at least 8 yrs just kept reading about the same things every year,i thought no more so i stopped getting it

Lincoln Runner

03/01/2013 at 23:21

Haven't read it in years. Always much preferred 'Running Fitness' - and, although I wasn't aware until now, it turns out it's much cheaper.

I think it's true though the this and other sites have made race listings in magazines something I don't need at all.

Run Wales

03/01/2013 at 23:48

I've been subscribing for a few months... and been a forum member for a similar time.

So I'm not yet tired and cynical about it all ! But already I see forum questions that are just repeats of repeats of repeats of question raised repreatedly, even in the short time I've been a member. I guess Tom is spot on in that you do get tend to get tired of any specialist forum like this, he's also right in recognising that the value of the forum is in no way diminished. As you get a bit tired of it, you post a bit less (just like you've perhaps done)... and new blood comes in.

I actually think it's good that multiple new threads (on similar subjects) get started... I find threads with hundreds/thousands of posts to be off-putting.

My biggest concern is with Runners World is that the magazine gives a perception of being sponsored by some commercial entities.. who perhaps have editorial influence. I'd like to see some bigger effort for the magazine to be SEEN to be objective... and indeed to BE objective.

Edited: 03/01/2013 at 23:50