Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

I don't think this merits a comment on the actual Board, but I did want to point out a bit of an error in 63281 .

Ragnar does not provide any aid stations (water, gu, port-a-pottys or first aid) - unlike every other race out there. There isn't even food at the end provided by sponsors- there are booths selling food, and I'm sure the booths had to pay to be there. Ragnar also don't time individual runners, which should be a given. Triathalons time each segment (run time, transition 1, swim time, transition 2, bike time), but Ragnar doesn't put timing chips at their handoff stations. They don't even stop the stoplights for you, meaning that if you are running along a road and the light turns red you have to jog in place until the crosswalk light turns on. Thereby killing your time. THAT's why this person, and my husband, consider it a ripoff.

My husband is running it anyway, mind you. But his $100 alone is more than any other race he is running this year, and they provide NOTHING except a starting point and some cones where you change runners.

I'll be very interested if Ragnar gets back to Marguerite, because we often wonder who is getting filthy rich over this.

Huh. That is interesting. I've always wondered where the money from other big races goes (half marathons and marathons, in particular), but that sounds ridiculous.

Running becomes a surprisingly expensive hobby when you start racing...

We are actually good friends with the person who stated and runs the Utah Valley Marathon, so I do know a bit about where the money goes. I remember his first year, he had so few people sign up that he only barely broke even with 200+ runners. And this year his races have been sold out for months. He is running the Ragnar in my husband's team, so I am going to have fun talking to him about it at the end of the race. Maybe he will have insights into the costs, since he would understand where money goes better than anyone. I know previously he has told us some of his biggest costs and/or headaches come from blocking off traffic (paying police officers to work the route) and running busses to the starting line (paying bus drivers) as well as advertising. I can't remember if getting his race certified cost him money or just a headache, but that is vital for a marathon so people can qualify for Boston. Aaaand Ragnar doesn't do any of those things.

This thread makes me think of the capitalist pirate Ragnar Danneskjöld from Atlas Shrugged.

TheAnswerIs42 wrote:We are actually good friends with the person who stated and runs the Utah Valley Marathon, so I do know a bit about where the money goes. I remember his first year, he had so few people sign up that he only barely broke even with 200+ runners. And this year his races have been sold out for months.

Was that the race that was originally scheduled for conference weekend? I remember seeing an ad for that, and I thought that was the worst idea ever. Anyway, it was definitely one of the two Provo area marathons/half-marathons.

TheAnswerIs42 wrote:He is running the Ragnar in my husband's team, so I am going to have fun talking to him about it at the end of the race. Maybe he will have insights into the costs, since he would understand where money goes better than anyone. I know previously he has told us some of his biggest costs and/or headaches come from blocking off traffic (paying police officers to work the route) and running busses to the starting line (paying bus drivers) as well as advertising. I can't remember if getting his race certified cost him money or just a headache, but that is vital for a marathon so people can qualify for Boston. Aaaand Ragnar doesn't do any of those things.

My husband was the race director of a 5K a couple months ago, so I have a pretty good idea of costs for small races. Big races are probably different, but our biggest expense was the free shirts, BY FAR. If I remember right, I think the shirts ate up about half of our total revenue. The other big expense was insurance. You have to pay a certain amount per person for insurance coverage, just in case somebody has a heart attack and sues you.