Nike 10K

45,000 runners x £32= £14.4m income. I have no doubt that there is a huge cost attached to the races but nothing approaching this.London Premiership football clubs get charged less than a tenth of this for the policing etc of each match.

I was making no judgements on a fellow poster aside from the fact that it did certainly read like Mr N. Ike was posting (this has of course since been qualified and my apologies to Phillip). I was simply expressing my opinion about a specific race which I still think is a great idea. It is however a race that would not have exisited were it not for the unpaid efforts over many years of individuals and running clubs to make the sport popular. Expressing an opinion is surely what these message boards are for?

Greetings from Iraq! I am about to finish a 6 month posting here with the Ministry of Defence. I have trained very hard for the Great North Run but have also entered the Nike Run with my wife. I am a serious runner and she is a beginner but we will run together just to have fun. Like a few of you have said, you pay your money and take your choice. By the way I have to run here at 5-30am because of the temperature - it is currently 53C. Have fun in the park!

JL2 - I think you're out by a factor of 10! 45,000 * £32 is £ 1,440,000 - which is still a fairly substantial amount of money though.

Personally, I'm not running the Nike run this time as I'm already committed to the Cabbage Patch 10 on the same day. Had I not of been, then the £32 cost would have put me off a little (seem to remember it was £20 last time I entered in 2003) but I'd probably have been jealous of all those t-shirts.

However, I will go along to some of the training runs - added bonus if Nike has to give even more to charity ;-)

One thing I do not understand about the Nike runs though is their attitude to timing chips - they're the only race I know of that doesn't collect them in afterwards - why not? [And how can the other races justify their £20+ charges for lost chips?]

Well, it's nice to see some nice lively early morning debate :-)

If I dare summarise:

- it's good that the event attracts large numbers of new people to running

- it isn't a representative event, but it's not intimidating and the Nike name and marketing gets people off their a***s

- it's very well organised - much better than the British 10k, which is the nearest equivalent event in London

- it's expensive - and eiter a complete rip-off or not - depending on where you stand. At the end of the day, you pays your money and takes your choice

- no-one here is likely to nominate Nike for Cannonisation!


Tony Hodge 6 - 5:30??? Man, that's early. And I feel sorry for myself at 6:30am. Good luck with the wife - my partner and I had all sorts of "issues" to deal with. In the end, following a schedule helped us - it stopped me "being in charge".

John Lee 2 - thank-you for the apology - it's very kind of you and is accepted.

SurreyStrider and LoobyLoo2 - thanks.

Personally, I am really very annoyed with the amount the Nike is charging to enter this year.

I've done the last three Nike 10k's - in fact it was the first one that got me into running in the first place.

So I was dead excited on Monday and was up at 6am to register - was all ready to enter my details and saw the entry fee and decided it was ridiculous.

Yes, it is a well organised race and you get your nice t-shirt etc.

But essentially what they are offering this year is no different from what they have done in previous years, for half the price. I think the fact they have to organise three sites is somewhat countered by the number of runners. The timed 5k's afterwards are new but as far as I can tell, all they are offering is 'priority access' to these - and there is another 'small charge'

Nike must get so much out of this - for starters they are actually increasing the size of their potential market by getting more people running. Plus masses of publicity.

Thinking about all the big corporate sponsored events that happen across London (eg the innocent smoothie free concert the other week) I think it is pretty cheeky of Nike to be charging so much.

I think Nike have made a bit of an error with this - it really undermines the goodwill they have built up over the last few years. Or it has with me at any rate.

I dont mean to be patronising to newbies, far from it. My 1st ever race was cross country league meeting, and despite being bloody slow - still am - i was almost last but i was very happy to plod along. I got a great aplause when i finished and just made me realise i enjoyed running in different places. It didn't bother me at all about the fast people. Mr T's 1st race was also cross country, again he just enjoyed the challenge.
1st time racers should never feel intimidated about racing as there is always a wide standard, in fact for a long time i haven't 'raced' just plod to enjoy the scenery. It isn't all about PB's.
Anyway I'm off for the day, so happy chatting folks.
And yes you're right, i prefer to give my money to smaller local races where all the money goes to the charity or school, organisation involved.

I'm a beginner. I did the Nike 10k last year plus a couple of 5k's, but have done bugger all running this year. The Nike 10 is a perfect opportunity to motivate myself to get off my bum.

I'd rather pay the £32 than enter a cheaper race organised by a club and feel totaly intimidated and foolish by all the super fast runners going past me! I'd feel much happier being surrounded by lots of other runners of a similar standard.

And yes, as others have pointed out - we can question Nike business practices, but that would make us hypocrites. What about all the cheap clothes made in India that us girls buy from H&M and Top Shop? What about our electrical goods?

To make myself feel slightly better about it I'll be raising money for charity from my Nike Run through Just Giving.

Classybird

I too will be 'making myself feel slightly better' by raising money for Cancer Research UK as part of my Nike 10K.

I don't really think we should be feeling bad about having enrolled for this event - but reading many of the posts here (and generally around the RW forums) are starting to make me feel this way too.

Shame really because I was originally really pleased to have signed up - it's now all starting to feel a bit tainted!

Let's not let the cynics ruin our run. Like others have said, it's a great way of attracting people to running regularly. Anything that encourages us to abandon out sedentary lifestyles is a good thing.

Look I'm not against the actual run, just the fact they are charging such a huge amount of money to run 6 miles when only £1 is going to charity that's all.
There are many small local races which don't attract elite runners and have all standards with many 1st timers. last thing i would want is for a runner to feel intimidated on their 1st outing. In fact if you're with a club there are always slow runners like me and 1st timers who run purely for enjoyment and are happy to stick together for company and encouragement.
Now i really must go!
Enjoy the race and hope you all enter others afterwards.

I agree with phillip on this one.
It was about this time last year that I started running in an effort to quit smoking and get fit. There was no way I'd join a club or even contemplate doing a 'proper 10k race' but this was an ideal opportunity for me to have something to work towards that I felt was within my reach at the time.

The main objective for me was to simply get around without stopping for a rest (or a fag!)

At the time running a 10k race was a fantastic acheivement for me and one that I would not have done had the opportunity for 30,000 'fun runners' not been available.

I have since done 2 further 10k races (pb 48.18), joined a running club and am looking forward to the great north run in four weeks times.

£32.00 is a bit steep, but you do get a decent T-Shirt ( which may have only cost them 10p to make) and you cannot fault the organisation compared with other (albeit cheaper) 10k runs.

I've already entered and now my girlfriend is thinking of signing up as she thought last years event looked fun.

See you on Oct 16 - I'll be the one in the red T-Shirt.

Chris

The Runlondon website has this to say on whether Nike makes money:

"No. RunLondon is a non-profit event. Fees from registration are invested in the events, plus Nike invests additional money to ensure the quality of training runs, race packs and the events themselves"

Whether you believe them or not is up to you.

I did the Paris half marathon this year, which cost around £20 as I remember. It was a great event, but certainly not as well organised as last year's Nike 10k, no warm up, and only a cheap T-shirt.

Last year's Nike 10k was my first ever race, and in a year I can honestly say that I haven't done a race since which was as inclusive, as well organised or as much fun (and certainly nothing with as swanky a piece of free kit!).

If you think it's too expensive then don't do it, but you'll miss out on a really fun race. Hell, I'm in!

Back for 5 mins - I'm doing the Amsterdam half on same day - £26 with t shirt, medal finish in stadium, energy drinks, sponges/water en route, fab day for family with additional fun runs too.
Bye folks, and enjoy!
maybe next year I'll do it if it's not so expensive!

ClassyBird and LoobyLoo - don't let the cynics get you down. Remember it's a quid every time you turn up for a training event or run one of the 5ks. With a bit of dedication you could put £15-20 in the coffers of a good charity.

I was in Niketown this lunchtime (on the trail of a pair of Nike Free 5.0s) - trying to find an elusive pair of 8.5s...anyway, I digress...

The printed bumf they have in there describes the £32 as a "Yearly Subscription".

Rick - welcome.

Chris - aren't the "ones in the red shirts" the security officers on Star Trek. If memory serves...aren't they always the first to die?