The cost of registration
 

Do you have an upper limit for the price of race registration? Even though I have the means to pay fees in the neighborhood +/- $175.00 to register for an Oly distance race (slightly less for the shorter races)…I’m just having a hard time justifying that much to race. Especially when I’m just an aged, decrepit weekend warrior racing for nothing more than the challengers in my mind. Call me a cheapskate. I began racing triathlon in the sport’s infancy. I understand everything that goes into that…insurance, fees for course safety, etc. Those necessities haven’t changed over the decades. But, the price for registration in a tri has increased significantly compared to a road (foot) race. It’s really disappointing to me. — Dan

I do weigh the cost when registering. To keep costs down, I track the events in which I want to participate (like you, I'm just a poor age grouper only looking to cross the finish line) and register as early as I can. I registered for three events in Las Vegas just after Thanksgiving in the organizer's "Black Friday" sale. Each event was just a touch over $100 for a sprint. Like you, I know what goes into them so I felt that was a reasonable price. For a sprint, not sure I would do much more than that.

Last year, I considered Long Beach again but the price definitely drove me off. I forget exactly how much it was but I seem to recall it was several hundred dollars just for the sprint. Yeah, no. I'll still do Santa Barbara because it's still pretty reasonable for the event, but I also have to factor in travel and any accommodations. For out-of-state events that can quickly double, or more, the price of admission.

For longer events like a 70.3 or 140.6, then it's obvious the events cost so much more because of just how much more personnel, infrastructure and time in required. Expensive as it is, I think ~$1000 for a full distance and ~$500 for a 70.3 is actually a pretty reasonable price. Of course, in my triathlon "career" I only have a handful of those longer events left. I'm going to plan on Oceanside next spring and that may end my distance events. I'll just stick to local sprints from that point on.

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

This is a really expensive sport. I lost my fee to IW last year. What was it, something like $550? Crap, my tires cost $200. My shoes, on sale, were $100. Forget the wet suit, which I got on sale for $350. My bike? Forget about it. My second "trainer" bike? Forget about it. All my swim shorts, total and easy $300. Running shoes?? Forget about it.

Definitely expensive. I'm very cautious about the events I enter because of how expensive they are. I feel like I'm taking a big risk entering StG because the course is probably the most challenging course for me. I allowed myself to be talked into it but I feel I am as well prepared as I can be, definitely better prepared than I was for IW a couple years ago. I learned from IW and from IMAZ, so I think that's going to help me. Even so, I know I'm going to be bumping right up against my physical limitations as is, not a big margin for error.

As for the equipment, I put good money into the bike and into my run shoes. The other stuff, I hunt for bargains. I buy used wet suits. I do have a few tri suits but only two bought new. Three others were gifted to me by a member here a while back. I've even run across a couple in a Goodwill store. I didn't buy them because I already had what I needed, but you can, on occasion, run across deals through Craigslist, garage sales, thrift stores, etc.

The point is, you really have to figure out where your money is best spent. For me, it's bike and shoes. All the other stuff is kind of superfluous. I mean, I need it, but a $100 pair of goggles is not going to make me faster on the swim than a $30 pair.

Price of registration has gone up on a lot of races lately and I've been doing less races because of it. My limit is $50. Anything over that and I'm not participating.

Was recently looking at a race that I've participated in before. $105 to ride my bike for 37 miles plus 5 hour round trip. No thanks.

So here’s part of my confusion with race registration pricing. I just got an email advertising an upcoming local multi-sport race. In addition to the sprint tri, there is also a sprint tri relay, a sprint duathlon, and a sprint aqua bike. All on the same course, and the distances of the various disciplines are all concurrent. Yet the price for them all is different — the individual duathlon, and the aqua bike are $80, the individual tri is $100, and the tri relay is $140. The courses are already set up, manned, and occupied by participants. Why should it matter what race you’re doing? Regardless of which race you’re in…there are still participants on that course. I’ve seen other races differentiate like this too. I could see a price difference between a sprint tri, and an Oly tri. But to charge more for the tri just because a participant is running on a course that there are already participants running on doesn’t seem right. I can see charging a little more for the relay. But 40-60 percent more doesn’t seem right. All this being said…this is a race that’s more in the range of what I’m willing to spend for registration. — Dan

It's all become so profit-driven. What happened to the days when sports were organized for the purpose of pure sport? And the fees charged simply sustained the efforts? I recall that my local baseball league when I was a kid charged $8 a season per kid. We used to get a half-pint of milk and 3 graham crackers for .08 cents in grammar school. I just want to ride my bike against other people, swim like an otter, run until the inevitable calf failure.

After the running boom of the 70s, I think races were mostly put on by volunteer groups, with volunteers doing all the legwork for special occasions — i.e. “The St. Patrick’s Day Elks Lodge 10k” or “The Run to support education 5k” put on by the local PTA. But then in the 90s…maybe earlier…people began to go into business for the sole purpose of putting on races. Those volunteer groups found it worthwhile to pay a few dollars to these businesses rather than tax their volunteer membership. Kind of the same evolution we’re seeing with businesses like dog walkers. It once was a service offered by the neighborhood kid, or a housewife with kids off at school. So now those race businesses employing people so they have to charge more for registration. Just a guess.

Dan