Race Fees

If you ever need a great case study in supply-demand economics, look no further than the triathlon or race community. Ironman has capitalized on this concept for years. In general, there are only about half a dozen Ironman branded races in the United States. Over the past few years demand has soared. From a liability perspective, a race can only have so many people involved...generally around 2500 for Ironman. As it stands the demand greatly exceeds the availability. It is not an exaggeration to say that often these events sell out within hours....if not minutes when online registration opens. It is now almost routine that one must travel to an event just to get first crack at registering for next years race. Yes, thats right, one must register a year in advance. I remember at Ironman Wisconsin, I met 2 guys that drove from Oklahoma just to register. At Ironman Florida, we stood in line for nearly 1.5 hours just to register. There were probably close to 8-900 people in line that day. After all the on-site registrants were taken from the 2500 slots, the event sold out within an hour.

So as a business model, Ironman is clearly doing something right. They have a product that people want. This also allows NA Sports (company) to jack up prices because people are willing to pay $500 just to race (aside: to their credit NA Sports does put on phenomenal, class-A events that truly are costly). Because of the high costs to operate such an event, I don't take too much issue with Ironman charging this amount. After all it is an 17 hour race with 2500 participants. Sure it is a hit to the wallet nearly a year out with no guarantees except a race number with your name on it.

In fact, I don't mind paying a bit more for a classy triathlon. I tend to believe the costs should hover around $40-60 for a sprint and about $75-90 for an Olympic. Paying $150-200 doesn't really bother me for a Half-Ironman (of course, I shudder as I say that). And on the bright side we are experiencing a proliferation of 140.6 races across the nation. Same distance. Same challenge. They just don't carry the Ironman brand. These races are relatively cheap because demand is low.

All this brings me to the fact that I registered for the ING half marathon this morning. It cost me $80. $80 for a 13.1 mile run. Nothing else. That is over $6 a mile. That's a trip to subway or moes for each mile I run. That is a beer per mile. MMmmm...beer. Ideally, I think a half marathon should fall around $50 with the full being close to $75.

Now I can apply the same economic principles because ING DID sell out last year when it hit the 15,000 mark, albeit only a few weeks prior. However, this is the second year in existence. And reports from last year were NOT positive. I think $80 is a bit steep for a Sunday morning stroll through Atlanta.

Last year, I saved my money. I ran the course two days prior as a training run. Of course, I don't get the luxary of police at major intersections or the atmosphere that is only rivaled on race day. However, the irony is that I don't think I would have raced it all that much quicker...5-6 minutes at most. It made me really think about actually registering this year. At $80 a pop, I think I do without ING and downtown Atlanta. Next time, I will run the Alpharetta Half Mary three weeks earlier and for only $40 ($30 in advance)