Why so expensive?

*Wonders whether to post, as one of the aforementioned "rich" race organisers, but decides against it for professional reasons.

Suffice to say, Nam has argued this very well. Tis not a golden goose.

Cougie - Trev at Black Sheep Sports puts on Eastnor as a No Frills Event - it is usually very popular.

I can't speak for triathlons, but all those 'expensive finish tunnels' etc for my club running events are paid for as capital purchases for the club - i.e. out of membership fees.  The money is not recouped from race entry fees and I don't know of any organisations that do that.

Food and drink is donated by sponsors.  Prizes are donated.  In fact, the only real costs are for the council and police for road closures and for medical cover.

Tri's also have pool hire and security in transition in addition to road races.

And I can only remember one or two races that have not cost me more than £10, and these were off road 10k races.

I have helped organise some races and one particular race went really well. Over a 1000 runners enjoyed the race and we recieved a lot of praise for the marshals and all the other helpers and the event organisation. We had charged £7 att and £9 Unatt. This fee was used to pay for the T shirt, good quality, the landowner permissions, the car parking fee concession, medical cover, scout club donations, start finish furniture, water station kit, fruity juice and biscuits, then 10% went to Bluebell wood hospice, oh and the UKA license fee. Our time and the rest of the teams time and a complete w/e setting up and then clearing away at the end

One runner said he couldn't believe he had paid £9 quid for a malted biscuit. and he had top position on the RW forum. We were miffed to say the least.

At the end of the day it is an expensive ssport, and there are a lot of hidden costs in running an event in any sport.  without events, profit making or otherwise, there would be no sport.

I have listened to a lot of pirates whinge like anything about the freebies given out at IM events.  In my opinion, you pay for the race, if you want a good t shirt or bag, go and buy one yourself and dont enter the race

Tri is a commercial sport especially at the "big" events & yes some of those organisers I'm sure do very well out of it.

However I'm suprised to hear the entry fees here, come & do our tri
http://www.harwichrunners.co.uk/triathlon

Sprint & Olympic distances available

or how about a 5k race, turn up, enter on the line £2

Against my better judgement I've just paid out £40 to enter the Edinburgh Marathon. This seems hellishly expensive to me but I do want to do the race. Maybe there is some justification for charging such high entry fees but it just seems like a commercial organisation out to make as much money as it can. The entry fee for more low key events (with far fewer runners) is more like £20. And then there's the fact that if you pull out you stand to receive no refund or transferred entry to the following year. Should we just say no?

 £50 quid to go watch Chelsea play, makes our sport look cheap. 

I've read this thread with interest.  We're in the process of organising a triathlon to raise some money for a local charity and I have to say it's been the biggest headache in the world and is proving to be very costly.

What you also don't see is the hours and hours of time and negotiation and too-ing and fro-ing and begging and sleepless nights and logistics of stuff to organise an event that may last for 4 hours for 300 people. 

I get very tired listening to people moaning about entry costs.  It's been said a gazillion times before.  Just don't enter them.

It's quite simple really if you don't like the costs then vote with your feet and take your business else where.  I turn up and time a *lot* of race and the conversations about the prices of chip timing will make the average runner choke.

 Chip timing means you dont get much change out of grand and thats just the tip of the iceburg, if you look at runing events there is that permit scheme that likes to follow up your event with couple of fingers in your sphicnter muscle.  Triathlon is no different

First aid for a half marathon  this year  we paid just shy of £800

£750 for the drinks and the nibbles on the course and in the goody bags

Hiring two vans, £300 ( big sprinters)

Royal Mail £300

Finishers medals, engraved  £1500

and we do it properly, you can cut corners you can go light but we found, charge a fair price and put on a cracking event! =  happy customers

 even still after 48 hours of being up and working without a real break, stil people complain that the mile markers dont match their garmin and that the tunnel ( which we advertise as part of the course) was to dark!