Why do people get so worked up by goody bags?

Does the RW review system prompt to leave feedback about goodie bags? I can't remember, but that might be why they are often mentioned.

I wouldn't mark down a race for poor goodie bags but I'll mention it if it was very good or very bad, other people thinking about doing a spring race might be interested to know you get a hoodie, recovery drink and a slice of cake at X 20 miler and nothing but a plastic cup of water at the end the Y 20M.

Max's Mum wrote (see)

i think probably the thing is, if the race organisers are going to provide a goody bag, it should be worth it, otherwise dont bother?

i would rather get nothing at all than a carrier bag with one cereal bar and a dozen advert flyers (which i got once!), waste of a plastic bag really.

 

+1 The plastic bag full of leaflets that I got after Brighton Half Marathon was useless and not at all environmentally friendly, most people chucked them on the floor! It was just another thing to carry and very annoying.

My best goody bag was one of those nylon drawstring types plus 12 yogurts, a mouse mat, a pen, a wooly hat, a keyring and discount vouchers all that was on top of the tech t-shirt and the medal. it was the Muller Market Drayton 10k sponsered by Muller, hence the Muller yorgurts and everything was plastered with Muller logos.

But all I really wanted was a pb and I got that too

It's only the goodie bags that keep me running. Isn't it the same for everyone else?

When I was starting out, I was always delighted to get a medal, and a goody bag to a lesser extent.

Now the only thing I care about in a race is getting a performance satisfactory to the course/rivals and my expectations.

A medal or goody bag are barely of any consequence these days.

I would never judge a race on the basis of the goody bag. It's not why I enter races!

@ Peter Collins -  Clearly not for everybody though. 

When I walk in some parts of the  area where I live I see that a few people have thrown goody bags into the higher branches of trees.  Clearly not happy with the contents, I'm presuming ?

I will do a race only if there are three goodie bags packed to the Sallys (gunnels) with cake, biscuit, beer, ashtrays and the like.

HalfRunnerHalfBiscuit wrote (see)

At one race we got what can charitably be described as a trinket bowl. One finisher was heard to comment that 'I do a race and BUPA give me a b****dy ashtray, are they touting for business'

Philip Morris used to (maybe still do?) offer a mammoth supply of free cigarettes as part of an employee's benefits package.  Maybe this cuts down on their pension bill??

I'm pretty indifferent really, but if you're gonna hand me a bag as soon as I've finished a race, there'd better be some bloody chocolate in it! 

I'm not bothered about what's in the goodie bag particularly, or even if there is one, but I do find stupid ones a bit annoying. I remember one of the Bristol halfs I did a few years back. Was expecting food in the goodie bag, which was good, because I was bloody starving. What did we get? A tin of f***ing vegetable soup.

I fill my goodie bag with an assortment of Satnav's, car keys, cash and credit cards I find lying around in a tent near the finish line.

Give me a medal! The other shit I can buy.

You mean you don't buy an assortment of medals and go to sleep surrounded by them?

I tried it but people soon figured out that I scratched the name of the event into the metal with a compas. So here I am, getting medals the hard way lol.

If I enter a running event that costs me about £15 then I don't expect one, but a medal is always nice.

What really pees me off though is if you've forked out an arm and a leg to enter an event and the goody bag is sh*te.  This year's Great South Run is a prime example, containing a cereal bar that was more a bag of granola because it had been so battered, not to mention some bizarre squashed pink "protein recovery" bar.  It looked like a tablet of frozen sicked up black cherry yoghurt. 

If you're going to offer a goody bag then make sure that the contents are worth having please!

The OP is worded in such a dry/ funny way, love it.. really made me laugh.....I agree its odd what some people find so annoying ..

If I can carry a goody bag after a race I have not tried hard enough.

Oh yea,   the coaster at the end of the Snowdon race was too heavy for me, so left it on the floor.