Safety pins

Is this about to become the new BEWARE XXXX thread?
Tri-belts look snazzy but the number itself flaps about everywhere, sticky tape is more restrictive than pins and I guess adhesives don't work so well on wet stuff. It's easier to make a waterproof number than it is to make a flexible glue that sticks to wet skin and/or lycra.

sticking numbers to wet skin using safety pins.

safety pins are cheap. tri belts are not. If you forget your safety pins you can easily nab a few to replace them.

velcro dots would be a pain in the butt.

London 10k had numbers printed on T shirts - a one off costly use. Also not too popular.

Crearting an adhesive that would stick to the myriad of natural and mademade fibres that we wear, plus all zippers fixings and fasteners, come off easily, be waterproof, last the duration of an ultra, not damage the fabric,

would you like to pay for that without even having a market.

They may use safety pins but the numbers are straight and in the middle! I can never get that number in the right place or pin to avoid the nipple on the first attempt!!!!

I always spend ages fussing about to make sure the number's dead centre and spirit level straight. End up with about a million tiny holes and snags in whatever vest I'm wearing. Really hate the cheap paper numbers that, like RR says, always rip off in the wet. Whenever I turn up at a race registration and am given one of those plastic/tyvek indestructo-numbers, I know I'm going to have a good day.

For marathons/ultras with cheapo paper numbers, I usually fold them up small and tuck them into a pocket, then write the number on my forearm in permanent ink. Having marshalled at a couple of ultras recently where entrants weren't wearing numbers and couldn't remember what theirs were, I suggested to the organisers that inking numbers on foreheads at the start might not be a bad idea!

Staples.

RWD - I like the idea of numbers on the forehead. Althoug if it was a sunny day, you could end up with a semi-permanent sun tan mark. Bad if you happen to be number 666.

Sounds silly, but I'm supersticious/OCD (make your own mind up) when it comes to pins and numbers. I'll always take my own pins to the race, attach my number, then do each pin again so the number's as straight as can be. On wet days I'll also write it on my hand with a marker pen.
Gavlar - Might give the sprinters an aerodynamic advantage, but I could sweat through a lot of labels over 10M or so!

I use this stuff

http://www.staples.co.uk/janitorial-and-facilities/signage/fixtures/sticky-fixer-strip-25mm-x-3m?r=bf

It's a roll of double sided sticky foam type stuff (fairly thin).

Cut a square for each corner of the number and hey presto. It sticks fine to both the number and to technical fabrics, and it's never come unstuck for me in the rain or wind. Indeed it withstood 4hrs and 19 minutes of torrential rain and gain force winds in the Greater Manchester Marathon earlier this year

During my first marathon in Paris, my number was pinned just above my running belt which was carrying sachets of energy gel. One of the sachet top (which had a 'tapered' neck to help tear the top off) got caught on my bottom left safety pin. I couldn't get the sachet off the pin and vice versa (not easy to do whilst running). In the end I had to stop running, took off my safety pin (still attached to number and sachet), rip the sachet off the pin, spilling the sticky gel all over both hands, then with very sticky fingers, attempted to reattach my number onto my vest as quickly as possible so I could carry on running - NOT easy! I then had to contend running with sticky hands until I could get hold of a bottle of water at the stations to wash my sticky hands!

That all didn't happen during my training runs because I didn't have my number on.....perhaps I should have practise my running with my number on?!

Magnets instead of safety-pins...

Check my website. I have a solution to your problem with safety pins.

http://www.sportsmagneter.dk/english-version

Only 16 grams total weight and no rubbing on the inside of the t-shirt.

iron-on transfers that wash off.... sorted!

There was a bloke on Radio 2 a couple of weeks ago who has a new device.

It's basically a plastic nipple that you put behind your top, and a cap that you push onto it from the otherside with the number n your t shirt in between. 

He was saying companies can brand the buttons on the front.  Sounds a reasonable idea forgot his website as I was thinking of trying em myself.

Sounds almost like our product. We can do the same.Our product is a plastic shell with a small magnet inside.

Companies can buy our product with company logo or running clubs with club name, etc.

http://www.sportsmagneter.dk/english-version

I like safety pins.

Pins are simple, cheap and do the job well. I would suggest that the issue with finishing with no number is a problem with the numbers used, not with the pins. I have never had a number come off, and have been racing all sorts of different distances since 1988!