£22 for a 10k???????

[dominion]

However in Max Coleby's defence, he is not only one of the good guys, he made Bishop Auckland 10K into a race that attracts top fields due to good prizes. He's also to be found at many other lower key venues e.g. Gt North Walk, Blaydon Race. I can't speak for the others but i helped marshall one of these events and found him to be a nice chap.

That's a fair point. I ran the first Bishop Auckland 10k. He thought it would be a good place to organize a 'low key' race. Unfortunately everyone figured that if Max was organising it then it would be a good, well organised race, so his 'low key' race suddenly became a major event!

[daz h]

what about the prices of some of these triathlons as well

personally i think 20odd quid for a race is a joke but obviously others do not
long live cheap fell races

[AllanT]

Depends what sort of race it is. If it was a big race (and I mean a 40 plus miler, like for example the End to End Mountain Bike Race, the Manx Mountain Marathon, or the Parish, I wouldn't think £20 - £30 was too much considering a lot of the profits go to charity, there's massive road closures, a massive do at the end with a great spread of food, a field of hundreds (even over a thousand), and they're special, really big events, plus coaches to the start and finish, massuers, etc.

On the other hand if more low key 10K's charged that sort of money regularily then I'd feel ripped off!

[Alf Tupper]

I agree Allan T . what amazes me is the sheer good value of LDWA and FRA events. I don't mind paying £20 odd quid for a marathon but the same for a 10K is a joke. Should be about £8 to £10. Darlo is £8 , has road closure etc and police , St Johns etc, its a reasonable price.

[AllanT]

I agree Allan T . what amazes me is the sheer good value of LDWA and FRA events. I don't mind paying £20 odd quid for a marathon but the same for a 10K is a joke. Should be about £8 to £10. Darlo is £8 , has road closure etc and police , St Johns etc, its a reasonable price.

I suppose though apart from marshal provision (theoretically free) and possible road closures (policing costs), the distance itself is pretty immaterial, I'm sure the vast majority of the cash doesn't go on that side of it? Infact if it came to road closures, special policing, etc, then surely the more competitors the less the cost should be? That said as you've already said the longer events do tend to give you a lot more for your money.

Suprised actually at the road races and XC's I've done over here, that they are cheaper than I expected them to be, but that's because they're club events and so only cost a maximum of a fiver (usually a lot less than that), and that also includes sandwiches in a pub. Now as the buffet is supposed to be per head, it shouldn't really cost any more individually to cater for 1000 persons than for 10 as the increased cost is balanced out by increased entries.

So unless it's the organiser doing the catering, then why the big difference in the cost? The only other thing may be the hire of a venue, whereas it is easy enough to pop into a local pub for a small size fields, and ask if you can use it to do the presentation (the owner is usually more than happy as you put more money behind their bar), it's a bit different with a larger field.

But a lot of these expensive 10K's don't seem to provide for an after race party anyway! For example as far as I was aware the Race for Life they had over here (ladies only - surely this must be against the law?), there was a massive entry fee ("come on guys, it's for charidee...."), but no after race party!

In the E2E mtn bike race, the £35 I paid covered the coach there and back (plus lorry for the bikes), Pasta party on signing on night (eat as much as you can), the race itself (with the marshals and policing), After race party (again with an all you can eat buffet), brilliant prizes (including spot prizes), and a reduction voucher for LBS's. In addition to that, there was provisions of free Energy Drinks, Bars, Gels & spare innertubes! If I'd done without the coach then entry would have only been £25 too!!! OK a lot of the provisions are through sponsorships, but I still think I was getting a lot for my money!

[dominion]

Far from destruction, it's a perfect example of an efficient economic system. Nothing wrong with that. There are people prepared to pay a fiver, there are people prepared to pay five times a fiver. Bottom line is you have more people running, hence it is very positive. You pays (or don't pays) your money you take your choice.

I disagree. There's been quite a backlash from club runners against the GNR. If you're an elite runner you get on the front row, if you're not then you're dumped in with the masses, so you have 75 min runners dumped behind a wall of Z list celebs. I agree it's encouraging participation, but because of police / councils forcing many smaller club organised road races out of existence you end up with a few big races like GNR, but at the expense of a higher standard of competition.