New York City Marathon Raises Entry Fee - "Holy Cow!"Tim Long
Organizing and promoting events for a living, I often get the question, "Can you make any money doing that?" "Enough to live," is typically my answer. Maybe if I started charging $166 entry and a $11 processing fee, I'd be able to buy that shiny new Mercedes S600 I've always wanted (NOT). Consider this: the $11 fee is paid by everyone who applies, and is non refundable. The organizers are making over $500,000.00 off people not even making it to the start line.
If that price sounds high, well, it is. Entry into the large marathons climbs every year. The problem is that people continue flocking to these events and paying these prices. My fear is that the big marathons will turn into what I call "Everest Castles", where only rich dummies are welcome. Everest used to be the test of the strongest and most courageous adventurers. Now, anyone with $40,000 and the right clothing can pay his way to the top. Is this where our big marathons are going? It'd be interesting to see whether the average finish times continue to get slower by perhaps weeding out sub 3 hour finishers who can't afford to participate. "Call the Science Journal! We got a study to conduct." I'm forking out $110 to run Chicago this year (only my second marathon). That's my limit. I won't ever do the NYC marathon, so I hope the 6 hour finisher who takes my place and can afford the entry enjoys the event.
2 comments:
It's not about speed. Economics, yes. But not speed. Don't slight those that can't or don't run a sub 6 min pace. I am actually surprised to hear this tone as your not the kind that normally dis slower runners. Is completing a marathon in 6 hours really any less of an accomplishment than someone who finishes sub 4 hour? Sub 3 hour? Slight the money, not the speed.
Who cares what the average finish time is? Does that really have anything to do with the supply and demand economics of the situation?
I appreciate what you're saying. And, yes, completing a marathon at any speed is an accomplishment. I am aligning the way marathons are becoming a rich man's sport to the way Everest has become a rich man's adventure. In both cases the quality and ability of the participants suffers. The marathon is a RACE. Anyone who runs them and says he doesn't keep track of his/her time is a lier (or a little nuts). High prices weed out a lot of people who can run faster times, and, therefore, the overall speed of average finish times goes down. The "speed" or time is the measurement of races.
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