Chicago runners, and anyone interested in running the Chicago Marathon got a jolt this week, when it was announced that this year's Bank of America Chicago Marathon would cost $125 to register. For the last two years registration was $110. I figured it would go up, but that is quite a jump.
Immediately a joke came to mind - is this our economic bailout of Bank of America? In reality though the costs of marathons is most likely very high. City police, sanitation, and other workers have to be paid. Streets have to be blocked off. Water and food have the be purchased. There are so many costs involved with putting on an event the size of the marathon. Sadly sponsorship dollars can only cover so much. The cost trickles down to the runner.
What is a runner to do? Does the higher costs mean we run fewer races? In 2007 when I trained for Chicago, here were some of my costs:
Registration: $110
Training Program(FFC): $300
Shoes - 2 pair $100
Gatorade/gels/nutrition for training and race: $50
Shirt: Included in my training program
Shorts: $20
Body Glide: $7
Socks- 3 pair: $20
Total - $607
Then there was the other costs; the training time. I ran 5-6 days a week. Time spent away from friends and loved ones is not measured. NOTE: My equipment charges are cheaper due to working in a running store.
Yesterday I did some figuring for this year's Chicago Marathon(for a non-running store employee runner):
Registration: $125
Training(FFC)$300
Shoes - 2 pair: $200
Nutrition: $75
Shirt: $35
Shorts: $35
Body Glide: $7
Socks - 3 pair: $30
Total - $807
In these hard times, spending that kind of money is a serious decision runners have to make. Clearly there are less expensive training programs, so some costs could be lowered. Still, it is a lot of money.
The Bank of America Chicago Marathon will sell out. It always does. I wonder though, as sponsorships become scarce, what our costs will be in the future? Will we continue to pay larger sums of money to run these races. Will races begin to shrink in numbers? Running is still one of the cheapest sports to participate in, but maybe this means we race less?
Charlie
1 comment:
Yep. I was just thinking about this. What I think is that we will see a rise in the number of "FAT ASS" type events. (Stands for No Fees, No Awards, No Aid, No Wimps)
That is to say, I think there will be more non-supported-no fee events. Basically, you are given a place and time to meet, and nothing else.
These are smaller size runs and there are no aid stations, no course marshalls, no t-shirts, no official time or medal...you get the idea.
Maybe not ideal, but I think it's going to happen because hard core runners will not back off on enjoying running because of the economy--we'll just find another way to enjoy.
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