I thought about this a little more while I was on the bike yesterday. It could be that the inflation of the price to race a triathlon has outpaced the price for a footrace because of the growth in popularity of the sport. Generally, a footrace can accommodate increases in the number of participants. For example, take the Indy Mini Marathon. Years ago, I ran that race annually for twelve years. In any given year, it’s already a big race with +/- 30,000 runners. A couple of the times I ran it were milestone anniversary years for the event. Because of popularity for participating in the 25th or 30th running, the registered starting field for it increased to significantly more by like 5000 additional participants. But the registration price didn’t increase because “it’s just people running down what road.” But on a triathlon venue, I suppose there is a starting field maximum for safety concerns, specifically during the swim, and where to put the bikes/transition area, and safety on the road. So, to keep that number down…without setting a maximum number of participants, or a lottery…they just limit it by increasing the price knowing that many will be turned off by that. Just a guess.

There are still races out there (tri) that can be found for less than $100. Those are the ones that I hold out for.

Dan