I wanted to post this in a new thread as I mentioned it in an earlier one but felt I was going off the topic of that thread hence here it is. The following is just A GUESS based on previous years and observations (me being very nosey) and chatting over the phone with event staff on the rare times they actually answered the phone...;) It is fair to say that in some small but noticeable ways the race this year saved on money in ways which may have gone unnoticed if it wasnt for the fact that many in this group have ran this race and reported on it in fine detail, possibly more than any other race. For me I noticed... The Challenger medal was petty and insignificant to put it mildly. In my (often twisted) view you need heavy metal waiting for you at the end of these type of events. I know not everyone is in to medals but I am and to be honest its expected when paying through the nose. Food was skimped on in terms of volume and type though I wan tto stress still more than enough. Last year we got a free meal at the end of each day. Can I ask if this was the case in June this year please? I heard of runners paying for a meal. I didnt stay long enough at Vindolanda or at Gateshead long enough to notice. Anyway... If I were looking to save money scrapping the 2 day would help as this would mean Vindolanda would simply become a pit stop and not the overnight village, that alone would save big bucks. Perhaps if Rat Race stick to the 7am start they could also offer on the day registration. They would only need a bunch of people at the desk and this would be much cheaper for them than hiring people to hang about on the Friday. It may start at 7am but did you know you could actually go off at any reasonable time, put to my by staff over the phone. Sunday is an example of this, pretty much everyone ran off around the start time but the start was actually open for hours. Slower runners are encouraged to start as soon as they could. If a 7am start is kept to (as any organiser can and do change things) and they let people rock up anytime from say 7am to 10am then runners can better time their run to arrive at a more sociable hour in Gateshead. I noticed that the experts were many while the challengers were much fewer in number but to be honest still a large number compared to typical ultras and even some shorter races. I have no problem with anyone looking to make money and be as efficient as possible to save money. Rat Race have already closed the shop and i just feel they are shaving off edges elsewhere. Again this is all muchly speculation. The purpose of this thread is to kick off debate on how and why changes may be made to next years race in light of no 2 day option. Also how would you want the race to change? Why not we gather runner recommendations and we can let the organisers know.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 18:57:24 +0000
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