Medals or no medals?

A medal hat? As in a sovenier hat or some sort of crazy invention?

Here's a picture of my medal 'jar'.

I also have a board filled with bibs but they may soon have to be relegated to the recycling

Like that Emmy.  All of my running numbers are kept in a couple of lever arch files.  I just have to punch a couple of holes into the number.

@Andy - I tried that but hubby doesnt like clutter. He throws away all of his medals/numbers so i look like a complete hoarder in comparison!

My wife's ok with it as long as it all stays in the spare room

Ben Davies 15 wrote (see)

I agree Ben and thanks for the comment.The tougher the event the more worth the momento has.

Bespoke medals (which now seem to be more common in my most recent 10ks) can be nice to own and make remembering the events easier.There is no right or wrong answer to this issue and we all at least still have the choice to choose races without any frills.But medals are a great honour in many other aspects of life and a massive jar of coloured metal on lanyard (get one whatever) can in time become meaningless for some. :O)

"If you complete an event such as the Lakeland 100 or the GUCR, then you are going to want some sort of memento recognising the accomplishment, and it might be among your most treasured possessions".

 

I think a good compromise would be to have the option of a variety of different medals depending on times achieved.Say for example a standard medal, a sub 60min medal and a sub 45min medal then top 3.At least you would be able to instantly recognise the improvements one has made .Obviously the practicality of this and the cost would have a bearing on whether this could ever be adopted.But a great possible alternative for races in future seasons I believe.

Until and unless they open a corner shop or put an envelope through my letterbox  offering £4 per bag of old used medals, mine will undoubtedly continue to sit gathering dust getting little attention apart from the handful of particularly decent times I ran and their medal memories.

Having only done one organised event with no medal I would love to get a collection like some of the pictures here. I agree that it should only be for more prestigious events but bring it on.

One problem with capping the medals is the bias towards gender and age groups. Would be good to allocate a % within each category but it is too complicated.  

My own growing collection is open to reasonable offers Steve ;O)  

I think that medals should be given only to the first three overall and to the category winners.

And one for me as well.

The rest of you should just get a ribbon, without the medal

Muttley wrote (see)

I think that medals should be given only to the first three overall and to the category winners.

And one for me as well.

The rest of you should just get a ribbon, without the medal

Form an orderly queue behind me Muttley I get the medal first...

@Chris - that your opinion and we respect it... but there's a lot of us on this thread that appreciate the medal and enjoy the achievement of it.

Personally I have 11 medals which I'm extremely proud to own as they are a reminder to myself of how many half marathon events I've completed. Ok I may not be winning these events or even getting placed in the top 100 but it represents the time and commitment that's gone into each one. We don't just turn up at these events and expect a medal we train for them for months on end which I personally think is a hell of an achievement regardless of what time your recording. 

I've already posted on here a few times but I love getting a medal.  I was totally rubbish at sport at school and to get a medal feels like a real achievement to me.  I think if you are a good runner and in line ofr a prize or trophy you may not see the value in medals, but I really like getting them - and I prefer them to mugs or t-shirts or anything else (although I like the numbered pictures that I got from the 2011 and 2012 Newton Abbot Ladies 10k).  I have been lucky to win a couple of age category prizes this year (and a couple of bottles of wine as a team prize!) but I'll never be a really good runner and so I really appreciate getting a medal.  It may seem like pointless junk to some of you, but they mean something to a lot of people.

My favourite medals are the Fleet HM and Totnes 10k medals.

Edited to say - I think I may have raised this before, but some event organisers are really coy about saying if you get a memento and what it is.  Please be upfront and tell us on the entry form/website!

My 2pence ....... medals for anything other than say a top 3 achievement is a waste of time (and I say that as a backmarker by the way). These sorts of medals are what you hand out to children, not grown adults. I couldnt care less if I got a medal or not to be honest ...... alls I care about is my time and how I finished in proportion to the rest of the field. Its not like I sit there on a cold winters day with my medals around me, thinking 'ahhh, that New Forest half marathon where I finished 1456th out of 2687 runners ..... now those were the glory days!'

I'll completely disagree with David in that I cherish my medals. To me they remind me of the training and hard work I put in to that particular event.

I don't give a monkeys about where I finished in proportion to the rest of the field. The only person I'm racing is me and the targets I set myself.