7 ways road races have changed in one generation
Behind the scenes things have to change too
With the boom of recreational running a new generation of runners has come of age in a world where there are races available to run on every weekend. This is a relatively recent phenomenon. A short couple decades ago, within the rusty, crusty memory of veterans, things were markedly different.
Demographics and attitudes have changed, like they always do. As a race director I often wonder how much people actually think about what goes on behind the scenes to pull off that local race. I wonder if people without my ¼ century of running experience understand just how much things have changed. As a public service piece I’ll try to put some of these trends in context.
Race economics 101.
How does a road race make money? The two primary sources are sponsorship and registration.
Sponsors give you cash and stuff to be advertised on the shirts, banners and mile markers. Runners register and pay an entry fee. That’s where the revenue comes from.
What are the major costs? There are fixed costs and variable costs.
Variable costs include:
- T-shirts and any other give aways (medals, hats, etc.)
- Registration fees (the registration company will charge a couple bucks for each registration.
- Bibs, chips and timing.
Fixed costs:
- Timing company
- Police or other local personnel
- Rentals (cones, fencing, tables, tents, etc)
The way most races work is that the sponsors contribute enough to cover the majority of the fixed costs and the registration fees cover the variable costs.
The difference between the variable costs and the registration fee is what the race makes in ‘profit’.
In most local races no one on the race committee is getting any compensation other than a warm feeling of accomplishment. (Remember this next time you feel like complaining.) They are doing it out of love for a charity or an organization. To pull off a road race takes a year of planning by about a dozen people.
For example… Let’s say you start a local 5k. You plan to have 300 runners. Variable cost is let’s say $10 per runner and you charge $30. If you can get your sponsors to cover the fixed cost then you get 300 X $20 = $6,000. (Which, by the way is a really hard way to make $6000 for your charity).
This is why the for-profit race series want to have tens of thousands of participants. It is the only way they can make money. They tend to have to pay their staff whereas charity races don’t and their expenses are higher in general. The only way they can make money is to have multiple events to spread the fixed cost over and tens of thousands of entrants.
I started running local road races about 25 years ago. In that time there have been a number of trends that have changed the landscape of road racing.
Race trend #1 – More races!
25 years ago there might be a ½ dozen road races scattered across the local calendar year if you drew a 50 mile circle. In 2015 there are close to 100 local events on the calendar for April in Massachusetts. That’s about 10 times more races than existed 20 years ago.
What does this mean? Does it mean that there are 10 times more recreational runners? Maybe. It means that if you want to run a race, especially a 5K, you can find one, and you can find one close by on the day you want to run it.
One impact of this trend is that the available local sponsor pool is getting wooed by many more race organizations. New races may find that sponsorship is harder to find. Especially cash sponsors.
Another side effect is that races come and go and there is a significant churn and die off. Only the high quality products with good management prosper for the long run. In the end this race-Darwinism creates a calendar full of solid choices for us.
Race trend #2 – More Variety!
25 years ago there wasn’t a lot of variety. There were 5 mile road races, 10k’s and marathons. There were very few half marathons. 5K’s were only for college cross country and track events. In 2015 there is a full rainbow of events you can run.
Demographics have changed in such a way that there is a big demand for the 5K distance and this is one of the most popular distance. Many of the new 5K races are for charity and include a ‘walk’ and kid-specific options.
The same is true for the ½ marathon which didn’t even exist 25 years ago and has now greatly eclipsed the marathon in participation.
If you’re looking for something different there are muck-runs, color runs, tower-climbs and all sorts of other novelty race options for you now as well.
What does this mean? It means that these 10 times more recreational runners aren’t the same as the old timers racing hard at specific distances for a time. The new demographic has generated a need for more variety of races that put more emphasis on participation and the experience of the event.
Race trend #3 – The rise of the charity race.
Road races have always been fertile ground for generating contributions to charities. In the new explosion of events this has become the norm. Races for specific individual charities are everywhere and allow those people who care about a cause and want to make a personal contribution to show up and run or walk or volunteer.
What does this mean? It means that a healthy way to combine donations with getting out into the fresh air has been created. The big positive here is that these events pull in runners who would otherwise avoid something like a competitive 10K. This gives our sport a broader reach and paints it with a fair amount of cultural goodwill. These events can be entry points for people to discover running.
It also tends to teach unprepared charities that putting on a race is neither easy nor all that lucrative. It’s not the easy money that some think it is. There are easier ways to make $6000 than organizing a local 5K that may get 300 runners.
To counter this problem is another trend; escalating entry fees. It’s not uncommon for a local 5K to be asking $40, $50 or even $100 for an entry. If they can justify that premium and people show up it certainly makes the number look better. Remember that anything above the variable cost is all profit.
Race trend #4 – Changing demographics.
You probably won’t believe me but the road runner of 25 years ago was typically a young male who was super serious about his training and miles and racing. They were competitive runners in school and kept at it with road races, typically organized by the local running club, to keep things interesting.
In 2015 the participants in road running are as likely to be female as male and are as likely to run a 15 minute mile than a 6 minute mile. The majority of the races may not even have a running club involved.
This is a whole new generation of runners. They may never have run before. They may be coming to the sport later in life. The cultural bias and walls of the sport has been broken down. You still have your racers but race directors have realized that this is no longer their target market. The target market is the family where Dad may run one race and Mom may run another and someone is pushing little Johnny in the stroller.
What does this mean? More races don’t worry so much about attracting local elites. Less prize money is handed out at these small charity races. The participants are more interested in the experience of the event than in the fact that it’s a race. The change in demographics really gives the race more of a ‘family picnic’ vibe then the old ‘race day’ or ‘track meet’ vibe. It’s quite lovely in fact.
Race trend #5 – The race swag arms race.
Because we now have 10 times more races chasing 10 times more runners and they charge more money for the entry, there is an escalation of sort as the events try to stand out in the herd. Races push the envelope with crazy venues, whacky shirts, macho challenges and race medals the size of hubcaps! It’s crazy but some of these innovations stick and become part of our community culture.
What does this mean? Race directors will keep looking for angles to attract the crowd. This leads to folly in some cases but to true and useful innovations in others. Some races will carve out a niche and create a defensible market position with these innovations.
Race trend #6 – The for profit event.
Organizing a race is not an easy way to make money. We have seen for profit races emerge in most categories at most distances from Ragnar Relays to Rock ‘n Roll. These races have been able to find a model to drive participation for economies scale allowing them to eventually turn a profit.
The end product is a race but the organization is a business with investors and employees and is driven by market forces.
What does this mean? As long as they are providing a product with enough value that people are willing to buy it then the for-profit races will continue. They will look to dominate niches where scale can be used to create efficiencies in capital use to drive profits. This creates more choice for the consumer, especially those runners who are looking for a professionally produced, predictable product.
It’s a classic market trend. We’ve seen it in many other markets. The growth of the market reaches a point where scale can be applied and larger companies move in to sweep out the Mom and Pops. You’re local drug store, your local grocer and your local pet store are among the casualties and if market growth continues it will happen to your local road race.
Race trend #7 – The rise of the slow runner.
With the changing demographics of the sport the average finishing times have shifted towards the longer end of the day. This causes a challenge for race directors who have to keep the venue open and keep volunteers on staff longer.
How much longer? 25 years ago the slowest runner might be a 9 min miler, today there are walkers moving at 22 minute miles or slower. That means that the race course, the police and all the volunteers have to be available 2 to 3 times longer. This can cause stress on traditional events that were not designed to accommodate the slower runners.
What does this mean? Slow runners aren’t going away and have just as much right to participate in an event. Race directors will have to redesign events to accommodate or communicate time constraints effectively. Events will continue to bifurcate between those catering to racing and those catering to walkers. During this transition period the (frankly ridiculous) culture wars will continue as fast and slow alike make their opinions known. Eventually it will all settle down to a new norm that makes everybody happy.
In conclusion:
It has been quite a ride in the road racing community over the last quarter century. You’d be hard pressed to find a period of more growth and change. Depending on your perceptions some changes are good and some are bad as the sport morphs to embrace a new demographic.
The nature of races has changed to keep up with the changing face of the ‘average runner’. There are more events, a greater variety of events and more of us to run them. Like everything else in our world the good ideas will prosper and the less valid will die out. At the end of the day a new normal will continue to emerge and we, as customers, will continue to benefit from the change and growth of our sport.