GARNER -- In road racing lexicon "bandit" refers to those who run without officially registering. This type of activity - of which I am occasionally a guilty party - is frowned upon by race organizers. However, it is the race organizers who are the real bandits for charging ridiculously high entry fees.
While I appreciate the fact that many races donate funds to charities, I resent the fact that road racing is one of the costliest sports around. Frequently, my wife and children join me in races. Unless there's a family rate or the race director gives us a discount, there is no possible way we can afford to compete.
Entry fees for even short 5K races - 3.1-miles - can be as high as $40. Longer races, such as half or full marathons, can cost $100 per person. If you showed up last Saturday for the Garner White Deer Dash 5K, the cost was $35 - $140 for a family of four - to have the pleasure of running around Garner's streets for about 30 minutes.
Sponsored by Garner Parks and Recreation, the White Deer Dash offers no family discounts. Since the race is sponsored by Garner rather than a corporate entity, it should cost less. Promoting exercise and good health should be the goal even if the activity loses money. With the entry fee so high, Garner P&R failed to make the race affordable for all citizens.
Road racing is becoming more exclusive every day. Few people of color and fewer poor people participate. There are also too few children, a demographic race promoters should try to draw into the sport.
While some race directors give me a family discount, others say no. I requested a family discount to The City of Oaks Marathon/Rex Healthcare Half Marathon race committee, offering to do volunteer work in exchange for the discount. The answer was no. Unless you register months in advance, November's Rex Healthcare Half Marathon costs $95 to $100 for the 26.2-mile marathon.
In response, I wrote: "The sport of competitive road racing has become elitist; there is no option for the poor to be part of the sport. The cost is prohibitively high for families and to the those on low or fixed incomes. Including a cross section of people from mixed incomes and backgrounds is also important."
The committee never answered, but I did send another e-mail quoting a July 17 N&O business story, "Running withstands recession." That story said businesses "benefit from an affluent customer base that can drop $100 on a new pair of shoes or $85 to enter a race."
"Those are the things affluent people can do, not people who are unemployed or have larger families," I wrote. "We who love the sport of road racing should want our sport to be accessible to the masses, not just the affluent."
There are costs associated with races. Police are paid to keep the course safe, but couldn't volunteers do this work? Traffic control is not rocket science. Cutting costs must happen if the sport is to grow beyond its small base of affluent runners. I can play a round of golf with a cart for less than it costs to run a road race.
I'll keep running road races with my family - and begging for discounts - but my days as a bandit probably won't end anytime soon.
