Bupa Great South Run - too expensive?

Yes, and believe me it is not worth it.  I did it last year as I won a place.  Not worth the journey to be honest.

Yes, I do.  I won't do events that charge silly money like this.

There are plenty of other races which charge reasonable entry fees, I stick to those.

It'll sell out anyway I think. Its televised and well known and some people are prepared to pay for the big race feel. 

Plenty of other cheaper races to do if you feel its too pricey. 

(see the GNR threads and the London 10k threads too)

£4 a mile...  a bit steep for me.

VLM is costing me £1.23 a mile  which is a great deal in comparison

So much better to do a local race, I`m doing the Salisbury 54321 (50K) and that works out at approx 53p per mile (£17 entry)

I`ve done the great south run and would not do it again unless i was offered a free place.

They do a great yorkshire run as well along the same lines it probably about right for the road closer's and also because you get a medal and a t-shirt but personally I wouldn't bother and far to expensive. Like above they know it will sell out regardless so no real pressure to keep the costs down.

I forgot about the ill fitting cotton T-shirt, I only wore mine once, to paint the garden fence as that was about all it was good for.

Hmmmm...you want to do a 10 mile race in the area..... do you:

(A) do the Great South Run in Portsmouth for £40

or

(B) do the Lordshill 10 mile road race in Southampton the following weekend for £12

Tricky choice

Yeah okay fine, if you only like the big events or live in Portsmouth maybe it's a better choice but otherwise it doesn't look like rocket science to me. Nutty price.

RIP of britain

Stopped doing this race years ago, when it was the same price as the London Marathon...but at £40....Total rip off and nothing special. Better off supporting other smaller , local races.

Loved it,did the Bupa Great South Run 2011,forgot how much i paid,but that's alot of money.I want to looking for a race in 2 months time in Somerset because i have only just made a serious come back into training.The Bristol Half Marathon sounded great but £35 heck of alot of money.Only work Part time so does not help with my budget.Love to do the London one day.The Flora London marathon 2000 was the last one i did.i think i paid £15.00 back then,but love to know how much it is now?

About £34 for london now i think? Problem is a lot of big races come all singing and all dancing in terms of goody bag's and water stations now so push's the prices up. Kids these days don't know they are born. God I feel old.

£40 isn't much if you're only running one or two events per year. If you're doing one or two per month then it does start to add up. 

I ran this last year - it was well organised, huge amounts of support, very flat course. I can see why it's popular. I probably won't run it again but that's mostly to do with the crowding on the course and the amount of time I spent getting in and out of the car park. I usually go for small / medium sized events.

I've run it the past few years and the only reason I do is because of my mum. She loves the race and the friendly atmosphere and it's her 'main' race of the year. If it was me - it's too much hassle. The trains are crowded, the t-shirts are never there in the size you want and the 'secure' bag drop off - isnt really.

They've taken over the Birmingham Half in the last year. Predicatably prices are up.

Predictable, but at £2.44/mile Birmingham Half still looks like bargain(-ish) compared  to the GSR. I will stop whinging about this now

Cake wrote (see)

Problem is a lot of big races come all singing and all dancing in terms of goody bag's and water stations now so push's the prices up. Kids these days don't know they are born. God I feel old.

Goody bags are usually provided by sponsors donating stuff, so little or no cost there.

Water stations are usually manned by volunteers (running clubs, etc.), and many water companies will provide water if asked, so little cost there either.

Liverpool HM works out at £2.30 a mile and the Mersey Tunnel 10K £3.33 per mile. Not really an appropriate evaluation as the overall costs of delivering the events are based on different criteria and numbers taking part.

As mid range events they both strive to deliver the best possible race day experience for all concerned. Both have different aspects and are different distances so pounds per mile is an odd way to assess.

Bottom line is if you feel the entry fee is too much then don't do it!