Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts on the increasing costs of race entries 🙂
If I pay less than £10 to enter a local 10k event then I don’t even expect a medal. A bottle of water and a banana at the finish is enough for me. If I pay over £30 for a 10k event I’d expect as a minimum a nice medal, technical t-shirt (that isn’t the size of a tent) and a decent goody bag. A lot of smaller events are now providing free race photos, it’s a shame the larger more corporate events can’t do this. I’m sorry you didn’t have a very good experience at the Great South Run. I haven’t read many positive reviews of the Great South Run. Like the Great North Run it’s an event I no longer have any desire to enter. As a Midlander I’m not really a huge fan of the seaside. Perhaps this is one of the reasons I don’t like the costs associated with entering the Brighton marathon. I suspect that I would probably be prepared to spend similar amounts of money to enter a different marathon 🙂

Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on my blog.

The Great North Run is really expensive but I suspect that the price will continue to increase while the demand for places is so high. By the time I factored in transport and accommodation costs I worked out that I couldn’t afford to complete the Great North Run.

I have no idea why the Manchester Run has got so expensive. I’d be interested to know exactly how much it costs to hold a large event. At the moment there are still loads of very well organised, smaller and cheaper events. I just hope these events aren’t priced out by increasing insurance, policing costs etc.

I’m still waiting to get some feedback from an event organiser. I suspect that I’ll be waiting for a while 🙂

The Manchester Run has increased year on year and as much as I enjoy it, I’m questioning doing it again. I’m fairly new to running in that I’ve only run a few big races, but with the huge prices I don’t think I’ll be able to do many more!

I would love to know more about the costings behind putting on the runs, I don’t expect them ever to be very cheap but I’d love to see a breakdown.

Glad you’ve got the conversation going on this anyway! ?

I’m also concerned that larger races with more spending power will replace smaller events! I’m amazed that some of the smaller events in the Midlands have managed to survive. They don’t seem to attract very many entries, charge reasonable entry fees and give out decent goody bags. I wonder how many events are dependent on the goodwill of a core group of volunteers? The point you made about road closures has concerned me. Local councils always seem to be on the hunt for ways to make a profit. I’m still waiting to hear what the “big guys” have to say. I have a feeling I’ll be waiting for a while 🙂

Thanks for reading and commenting on my rather ranty blog entry!

I don’t think that £15 for a 10k in London is unreasonable, £50 for a 10k however seems excessive. There are still plenty of reasonably priced events out there, you just need to know where to look.

As for the Brighton marathon, no chance! I’d rather spend the money on a weekend away somewhere 🙂

Given the amount of bad PR the race has received over the years, I also have no idea how the British 10k has survived! Some of the complaints on the Runner’s World forums were incredible. No water, chaos at the start, waiting hours to collect bags at the finish… I guess there must be a continuous supply of new runners who are willing to part with £50 to experience running in the centre of London.

The British London 10k alone is £50 and it’s a terrible event. I have no idea how it survives.