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I know this is a little off FLrunner subject matter, but this is still a great forum for my little rant. My family did the Times Turkey Trot Thursday and it is probably the best organized and cheapest race available. Over 15000 runners for the 4 races, great hiTec T-shirts, bottled water, fruit, bagels, and certified 5K and 10K courses, all for $15.00. Why anyone would bandit this race and completely screw up results is beyond me, but I am pleading with adults and young runners, don't cross the finish line if you are a bandit, I prefer you not bandit because most of the races are fund raisers for a charity. The TTT this year had several bandits and they crossed the finish line and kept some people from receiving their mugs for top 125 or names in the paper,top 50. I realize this is not world peace but please be respectful of those who set their goals and work hard to achieve them. It wasn't me, but I know someone who has never failed to recieve a mug in some 20 years and officially finished 128 when in fact he finished 122. Thanks for listening. Support running pay for your races.

Point well made. I completely agree with your post.

Even better are the people who finish, jog back to "support" someone and then run through the finish again, and agian, and again........ I like to give them the last time they finish to make a point.

Camman

I know this is a little off FLrunner subject matter, but this is still a great forum for my little rant. My family did the Times Turkey Trot Thursday and it is probably the best organized and cheapest race available. Over 15000 runners for the 4 races, great hiTec T-shirts, bottled water, fruit, bagels, and certified 5K and 10K courses, all for $15.00. Why anyone would bandit this race and completely screw up results is beyond me, but I am pleading with adults and young runners, don't cross the finish line if you are a bandit, I prefer you not bandit because most of the races are fund raisers for a charity. The TTT this year had several bandits and they crossed the finish line and kept some people from receiving their mugs for top 125 or names in the paper,top 50. I realize this is not world peace but please be respectful of those who set their goals and work hard to achieve them. It wasn't me, but I know someone who has never failed to recieve a mug in some 20 years and officially finished 128 when in fact he finished 122. Thanks for listening. Support running pay for your races.

Agreed.

I believe its important to pay for races and support whatever charity or organization that the proceeds go to but i believe sometimes for some individuals road races are to expensive. Especially for some high school runners who can barley afford to pay for the shoes on their own feet. It would be wrong of you to assume that everyone can afford to pay for the entry fee to some of these races. I remember in high school running the gulf beaches holiday halfathon and running it bandit. I know i couldnt afford the forty dollar or however much it was entry fee at that time but i still wanted to run the half marathon. I know alot of my high school buddies and i did that because during the off season. We wanted to run a few races but couldn't afford the entry fee every other weekend to run them. Now if you can afford to run the race and you make the time and effort to come out to the race you should pay for it. But if you cant afford it but still want to race and dont cross the finish line or eat the post race food then I personally dont have a problem with banditing. But if you do cross the finish line and go crazy on the post race food then that is a bit wrong.

Here's an article i wrote on my website back in April on this subject:

Most of us decide to enter races, pay the entry fee, show up at the starting line and run the race while enjoying the amenities we are entitled to. We don

I agree with all the reasons not to bandit a race although we left out one very important reason. These races happen to be some people's businesses. It's how they pay their bills and their employees salaries.

That being said, I can still understand the high school or college kid who can't afford to pay for a race and needs the race for training purposes or wants to see where they are at in their training.

If you're going to bandit a track shack race check the entry. For most of their races I think they offer a special price for 17 and under runners. I think it's $10. They're a great organization and are always looking out for the young runners in our community.

Speeder

That being said, I can still understand the high school or college kid who can't afford to pay for a race and needs the race for training purposes or wants to see where they are at in their training.

If you "need" to do a race for training, go to your nearest track and race to your heart's content.

But don't steal services and goods and get in others' way at a real race.

If you don't have the money for races, you don't race.

Bandits are bad things. But they send a message. As an old runner, I have been around when entry fees were fifty cents and people did not try to make money and charities found sponsor money and did not use the entry fees for their good deeds.

Having run 135 marathons before 1988, I was unhappy when Marine Corps charged $18 to enter their marathon (in 1988). Now marathons are $100 or close to it. Regular 5K races can be as much as $30 post entry.

Those kind of prices beg the question if it is better to bandit some of the races and pay for others. When your family has three runners, and you like to run rwo races per month, that is over $100 per month. Then you add gas, hotels if necessary, and meals and the cost gets steep.

And you cannot say, "well compare that to going to a Gator football game or a Jaguar game (bucs, fish)" because at those events you sit and watch super good athletes. It sometimes is hard to justify killing yourself in a race and then having to pay to kill yourself.

I am not suggesting being a bandit. I just wonder if race directors (especially the charity race directors) could find a way for having disconts--for under 18, for a family of three or more, for a senior, even for a couple--find a way to make it cheaper.

Remember, in economics, road race demand is very elastic and if you charge too much, your revenue will go down and your bandits will go up.

"Remember, in economics, road race demand is very elastic and if you charge too much, your revenue will go down and your bandits will go up."

That is the equivalent of saying that if Walmart would just lower their prices, people would stop shoplifting. Why does anyone want to justify stealing from race organizers?

I pay for races most the time, but there has been times where I had friends doing the race and I just didn't have $50+ dollars to run in a crappy half marathon or something. The race directors know me and don't really care because I pay for at least 12 races a year. I say if you have the money spend it, but as a student who does 80+ miles a week and dosn't have time for work sometimes I just cant pay. If I don't pay I never finish.

If you look up crime statistics, you will see that crime goes up as unemployment goes up. If people have jobs and money, shoplifting will go down.

Race organizers have many times not acknowledged the profits they make. It is a curious thing that some of the time they even do not admit there is profit in race directing. Nothing is wrong with making money in race directing, but claiming that there is no profit is a big lie.

Maybe some people can justify banditing races when race directors claim that there is no profit.

I am not suggesting being a bandit. However, when race directors make big money and than do the race on the cheap, banditing is easy to rationalize.

Again, families going racing is very expensive. Discounts (and retail stores [WMT for example] offer all kinds of discounts) is something that race directors need to consider. We have some races in Jacksonville that offer discounts. My favorite is--a family discount--all family members run for a total of $50 entry fee. Now that is nice, even for a family of three.

Here's a modest proposal for bandits:

Assume ALL the responsibility for directing one race. Any race. Even a small one. Then decide how you feel about bandits.

I used to bandit, until I hosted my first race. Oy vey!

I do host a race. I don't care about bandits, as long as they don't go through the finish. It is a public road, I can't stop them from doing it, so why let it bother me?

As for racing as a bandit. I have done it, I will do it. I will NEVER go through the shoot or get in the way of someone who did pay. It is a public area, and I can run there. I can't afford to pay for every race. I pay for the ones that are small or mean something to me.

Running races that you can't pay for is not a bad thing, as long as you stay out of the way and don't take what is being offered.

runnerchick

I do host a race. I don't care about bandits, as long as they don't go through the finish. It is a public road, I can't stop them from doing it, so why let it bother me?

As for racing as a bandit. I have done it, I will do it. I will NEVER go through the shoot or get in the way of someone who did pay. It is a public area, and I can run there. I can't afford to pay for every race. I pay for the ones that are small or mean something to me.

Running races that you can't pay for is not a bad thing, as long as you stay out of the way and don't take what is being offered.

Then why are you picking that public area to run that day and at that time? Is there something special going on?
Sure there is, it's a race, and you're stealing the services provided.
Since you'e a coach, I sure hope you're not telling your athletes it's OK to steal.
Do you tell them it's OK to cheat in races, too?

Well, if you read my post correctly you would have seen that I DO NOT go though the finish, I DO NOT take and food, or services provided, I DO NOT get in anyones way that is officially racing. Therefore I am not stealing anything. What would I be stealing if I DO NOT partake in any services, or go through the finish? Absolutely nothing. I bring my own watch and time myself, so I am not even using their clock.

I do not agree when people do take advantage of the services being offered. I do not agree when people go through the shoot and take awards. I do not agree when they start on the front line. But, if people are not doing those things, what the heck does it matter if they run there? It doesn't. And, yes coming from a school where 84% are considered "poverty" I do take them to races, and they run but DO NOT take awards, DO NOT go through the finish, DO NOT take any services. We are simply there to run.

I host a very popular race in my town, I have people that run as bandits every year. I have people that tell me they are running as bandits. I don't care. It doesn't matter. Why get upset with it? Just relax, enjoy life and don't let the little things bother you.

I also bandit races here and there. If I don't have the money but want to get a competitive run I'll jump in. I think in my 7 year "career" I think I didn't pay for two races and didn't go through the chute in either. If I have the money... I pay. I like what the Lakeland Runner's Club does before the Watermelon Race. They make an announcement before the race telling people that didn't pay for the race to not go through the chute.

Runnerchick's got my vote.

Some of you guys on this site need to lighten up.

It's not that serious.