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#1
05-31-2009, 08:39 PM
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$181 dollars?! for a marathon?!
NYC wants $181 dollars to run its marathon - I am stunned, absolutely stunned. In all my years of running, I've never seen a race registration fee in the triple digits. Well, okay, let me qualify that - if you want until the very last minute on race day to register, it can be pricey. But this is the pre-registration lottery. The most expensive marathon I've ever run cost $80, if I recall correctly (in Philadelphia, a few years ago - can't remember how much the Marine Corp was, but I'm pretty sure it was less than $100). This is more than twice that. But as they note on the website, transportation is included, oh how kind of them. For that kind of money, I expect a personal masseuse thrown in. And maybe some guy running after me with a fan. An *electric* fan.
And then, they try to sell you a ton of crap on the same page! Here - drop almost 200 dollars on this race, and then throw into another 100 on orange shoelaces and 'official race gear.' You've got to be kidding me. I imagine the expo with this race must be downright intimidating. Well, screw this. Upon further investigation, it looks like they wanted $125 for the Chicago marathon. LA wanted $95 for the early registration. I can't find the price for Boston, as they haven't opened 2010 registration yet. So, what gives NYC? Why so high? I understand that marathons are expensive things to put on - insurance, medical care on site, shutting down city streets...but it seems like there's a big jump between NYC and other major US cities. If anything, I'd expect business in NYC to be less affected by a marathon - don't they have the best public transportation system in the US? Unless the race managers, in a weird and unwise move, decided to take the race course through the subway system, I'd imagine the infrastructure in NYC would be less affected than in other cities. When I did Philly, I remember several neighborhoods essentially being stranded until the race was over. Hmph, well so much for this plan. I was hoping to use one of my mandatory-in-November vacation weeks to visit a friend in NYC and maybe do the marathon, but no way. I refuse to pay that much money for a bloody race. Time to find something else, I suppose. 
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#2
05-31-2009, 08:53 PM
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$181 can buy a lot of beer, that you can drink while you watch the other guys running.
Well, don't bring it into the street; that would probably violate some ordinance or other. But if you were to find a nice restaurant along the marathon route, maybe with a balcony, you could have a pretty good time not running. ETA: When I saw the thread title, I thought $181 was the prize for winning it, which seems a little on the, errr, budget side. Last edited by kaylasdad99; 05-31-2009 at 08:54 PM.
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#3
05-31-2009, 08:57 PM
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I can't decide if I like or hate the number 181. On one hand, it's symmetrical and symmetry is good. On the other hand, why not just make it a round 180? WTF?
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#5
05-31-2009, 10:04 PM
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Dubai Marathon charged a hundred bucks for foreigners to run in its 2009 iteration.
Yup, $181 to run in NYC is too freaking much!
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#7
05-31-2009, 10:56 PM
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#8
05-31-2009, 11:37 PM
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#12
06-01-2009, 07:28 AM
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Houston has a marathon--in January, when our famous heat & humidity aren't so bad. Early registration begins in July--for a mere $90. Later, it will be $10 more--although it sold out so rapidly in the past that there may not be late registration.
They are increasing the number of participants & hope to reduce the scalping problem. One year, people were selling their tickets for up to $500.
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#13
06-01-2009, 07:35 AM
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The Akron marathon is $70, and you get
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#14
06-01-2009, 08:11 AM
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I was all set to show off with low, low Midwest prices, but was surprised to see that the Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines is $115 for early signup.
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#16
06-01-2009, 08:51 AM
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__________________
The Diver's Toast: If you lie, LIE to save the honor of a friend. If you cheat, CHEAT death on a daily basis. If you steal, STEAL time to get out and dive!
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#17
06-01-2009, 08:54 AM
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Part of the reason it's so expensive is to be a disincentive to applicants. There are, what, about 40,000 runners, and growing every year? My 2007 application fee was $150, including transportation. Did it really get $31 more expensive per runner in 2 years? No.
They're trying to limit the number of runners, which isn't really working. Next year it'll be hovering just under (or over) $200.
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#18
06-01-2009, 09:26 AM
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My first thought is what corkboard says. I doubt they'd have any difficulty fielding 40k runners even if they charged twice that. So what is wrong with charging what the market will bear (hopefully including a "scholarship" income-based program for at least a limited number of entrants)?
Another factor might also be declining corporate sponsorships. Here in Chicago I believe there are issues as to whether or not the long time sponsor is going to continue, and if so, at what contribution.
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#19
06-01-2009, 11:37 AM
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corkboard has it exactly right, the price is so high because it is one of the most popular marathons, probably second only to Boston. They want to limit the numbner of people.
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#20
06-01-2009, 05:29 PM
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#21
06-01-2009, 07:54 PM
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I hate big city marathons. Stand around for hours in shoulder to shoulder crowds, can't run your own pace cause you're packed like sardines. They herd you like cows. Then, stuck at the finish in interminable crowds for hours and hours.
Small to midsize marathons rule! I did the Steamtown marathon and the Charlottesville marathon. Both were fantastic. At Steamtown, you run through a neighborhood, and everybody in that neighborhood comes out and sets up a rest station. Beer, snickers, water sprinklers, gummi bears, the works. At the finish line they have pieroguies. You don't get shit in NY.
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#22
06-01-2009, 08:26 PM
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Keep telling me how much big marathons suck, please! Because the orthopedist is very likely to tell me I'm not running the Marine Corps Marathon this October after all the work I've put into it tomorrow or Wednesday, and I'd like to hear more about what I'm not missing.
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#23
06-02-2009, 08:59 AM
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You have to PAY to run a marathon?
You guys really are into pain.
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#24
06-02-2009, 10:45 AM
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Where does the money go? I've heard that the London marathon is the most expensive marathon in the world- because they hand out places to those that raise the most money for charity. And a lot of wealthy (well maybe not any more) bankers participate.
I think there are some conditions for professionals as well.
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#25
06-02-2009, 10:51 AM
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#26
06-02-2009, 11:00 AM
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Well, it's incredibly expensive to run one of them things. You gotta pay to close down a whole city for a couple hours. You gotta pay for all those cops. You gotta pay for all them porta-potties. You gotta pay for that ugly-ass "free" t-shirt. Not to even begin to consider the enormous amount of coordination and planning that must go into the thing, and paying all those coordinating planners.
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#27
06-02-2009, 11:22 AM
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It costs a lot of money to pay people to pick up all that trash that you guys throw down as you are running. Maybe if you'd try to throw it in the trash can more often, the races wouldn't cost so much to run.
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#29
06-02-2009, 11:41 AM
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The CPI / inflation rate woulda brought it up: $160. You cross the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Its toll's going up a $1: $161 The midtown congestion fee (in hibernation) would've added $8: $169 They wanna put $2.50 toll booths on the Queensboro, Willis Ave & Madison Ave crossings: $176.50 The other $4.50 can go toward administrative increases and maybe even overtime and pension contributions for the gov't workers that'll be on duty. Now, if they could only start charging marchers $181 in the various parades (St. Patrick's, VonSteuben, Caribbean, Columbus, Puerto Rican, Thanksgiving, Easter, Halloween, etc., etc., etc.).
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#30
06-02-2009, 11:58 AM
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NYC already limits the number of runners through a number of different mechanisms. You can't just sign up for the marathon. You have to qualify, run for a charity or be chosen in the lottery among other things. So price might be a deterrent but it's the last in a long list of obstacles to getting into that marathon. Also, don't forget there is an application fee on top of the entry fee. Apparently, NYC is the most expensive race in the country.
And don't worry about the Marine Corps marathon, it's already sold out (unless you signed up early!). I like the smaller races as well. Besides being much easier to run, you might actually win your age group. It's not like I'm going to win at NYC but I placed at a much smaller half marathon. My next race is a rock-n-roll marathon which I'm frankly not too excited about. I do want to run it but I have a feeling it's going to be loud and obnoxious. I can see why those races are more expensive, though, because they do put on a concert that is free for runners. And Scylla, I ran the Charlottesville half a couple of years ago. What a beautiful, if not painfully hilly, course.
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#31
06-02-2009, 12:42 PM
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I signed up early.
 Seemed like a good idea at the time.And I am never going to win my age group unless I live to be a hundred. My mother, on the other hand, is 68 and she gets a prize for everything we enter together. She's always last in her age group, but there's always only two of them. We've started to make merciless fun of her "slowest old lady" prizes.
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#33
06-02-2009, 02:46 PM
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That's a cool number!
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#34
06-02-2009, 02:48 PM
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#35
06-02-2009, 03:24 PM
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#36
06-02-2009, 03:25 PM
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#38
06-02-2009, 04:16 PM
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#39
06-02-2009, 05:00 PM
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In the street, they get compressed and the liquid runs out. They get swept up into much fewer bags with less waste. We only put the cans near the station so we don't get spills and splashes and overflow right at the table. Getting the ones off the ground is easy. The ones in the cans are a pain in the ass. You have to tilt the can over, let the liquid run out, than double bag and compress it. It's a lot more work.
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#40
06-02-2009, 05:42 PM
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#41
06-02-2009, 06:02 PM
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#42
06-02-2009, 06:10 PM
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Yes, definitely.
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#43
06-02-2009, 07:36 PM
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The sprint triathlon that I do went from ~$55 in 2006 to ~$95 in 2008. I thought, "cool, in 2006 I got a tshirt, souvenir water bottle, all sorts of free supplements and gels and goos, a professional photo . . . " All gone in 2009, except the tshirt. I paid way more, for way less. Perplexing. Just based on the cost of that event, and how relatively small it is, I would've guessed the NYC marathon was 4 or 5 hundred bucks.
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#45
06-03-2009, 01:14 AM
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Pittsburgh's marathon has a gorgeous, fun, challenging course (we've got hills!) and lots of cheering spectators and our early registration is only $85. (It may go up for 2010.)
You have exactly 11 months to train, the next one is May 2, 2010. Come from out of town and I'll feed you a good complex carb-y dinner the night before. Seriously.
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#46
06-03-2009, 02:46 AM
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Hell's bells, I've still got some left should you happen to need any... Disclaimer for the Offenderatti: Love the place. Never been to a single city in the world that comes close to the sheer excitement that NYC provides. If you don't feel alive there, buy a plot and dive in.
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#47
06-03-2009, 07:57 AM
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#48
06-03-2009, 08:43 AM
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#49
06-03-2009, 09:57 AM
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No shortage of spit, though.
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#50
06-03-2009, 04:11 PM
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