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Getting my money's worth
At the race last night I got into a conversation with a friend who thought the $30 registration fee seemed expensive. My races are 30 minutes, but other divisions race 40-60 minutes (and pay the same price). It got me wondering how the various races I've done this year compare, pricewise, side-by-side.
| race | price | cost/minute1 | what was included in price2 | bonus stuff |
| Kaiser Permanente SF Half-Marathon | $40 | $0.33 | t-shirt, finisher medal, several aid stations | |
| Ironman Arizona | $475 | $0.59 | swim cap, finisher t-shirt, finisher medal, finisher hat, pasta party, awards dinner, many aid stations, on-course tech support, tons of hot food at the finish, race DVD, finisher certificate, printed results booklet, the opportunity to have Mike Reilly call you an Ironman | Athena category winner trophy |
| Angels Camp Triathlon | $55 | $0.55 | t-shirt, one aid station on run, finish line snacks, picnic lunch with beer but no chickentarian options | age-group winner medal |
| Del Valle Splash & Dash series (x3) | $35 | $0.58 | one aid station on run, finish line pizza and beer | raffle prizes: Ironman coffee and mug |
| Alcatraz Challenge Aquathlon | $115 | $0.96 | t-shirt, swim cap, ferry ride to start3, run aid stations, finisher medal, snacks at finish | 3rd place AG medal |
| Big Kahuna Triathlon | $210 | $0.58 | t-shirt, swim cap, lots of aid stations, cool ceramic finisher medal, burritos at finish | Athena winner trophy and goodies |
| Sentinel Triathlon | $110 | $0.67 | wicking t-shirt, finisher medal, lots of aid stations, custom water bottle, Donettes and strawberries at the finish | Athena winner prizes: mug, towel, Sports Basement gift certificate |
| Grape Stomp Half-Marathon |
$45 | $0.38 | t-shirt, aid stations | |
| Santa Rosa cyclocross | $25 | $0.83 | ||
| Livermore cyclocross series (x2 so far) | $20 | $0.67 | top-5 medals in two races so far | |
| Bay Area Super Prestige cyclocross series (x3 so far) |
$30 | $1.00 | neutral spare wheels and bikes | bottle of wine in race #3 |
1 I rounded my race times to the nearest 5 minutes and cost to nearest cent.
2 In addition to the privilege of racing on a safe course and getting a finishing time or score.
3 Since the chartered boat was probably a good chunk of the cost of putting on the race, I wondered if I should include that time in the cost-per-minute calculations. But I didn't.
So here are some conclusions:
- I have spent a lot of money on racing this year.
- Half-marathons offer great value.
- Win something in your category and get better bang for your buck.
- Or get lucky and win a raffle prize/random drawing.
- Go slower and get more for your money!
- I may be sandbagging in the Athenas if I win every time I enter that category.
Perhaps I shouldn't single out cyclocross, because 5k and 10k races provide a very similar cost-per-minute value. And it's sort of an invalid comparison anyway since the cyclocross races go for 30 minutes and the other races go for as long as it takes you to cover the distance. And one could argue that you get better satisfaction from a set-distance race when you go faster although you might technically get less value per dollar.
And anyway, there is another set of data that's not included in this table that goes into the total cost of a race. And the Kaiser SF Half still has the best overall value because I walked to the start and didn't have to burn a drop of gas, spend a night in a hotel, or pay for any restaurant meals.
Dave just suggested that I calculate value based on average heart rate. Dollars per beat. He was kidding, but I did pause to think about it.
Yeah, this is totally unscientific. And rather preposterous. Whose idea was this anyway?
November 16, 2008 10:22 PM
Oh, but what's the money for, anyway? ;)
Races are cheap. My dog agility entry fees can run as high as $22 for about 42 seconds in the ring, that's over $31 per minute. It's even worse if they have fault limits and whistle you out as soon as you make a mistake, that could run you up to $600 per minute if you make a mistake in the first 2 seconds which I've done. Entry fees for a full weekend can easily run over $200 for 2 dogs never mind the gas, meals and hotel rooms if the trial is out of town. Regionals would have cost over $500 for both dogs if I'd entered every class available. Let's not even discuss what I paid to go to Nationals. Plus you get to sit around for 10 hours for a total of maybe 3-4 minutes in the ring per day.
I've found it's best not to think about the huge time/money investment in hobbies.
Yup, when people gawk at the price of doing triathlons (especially IM-distance), I like to point out that as hobbies/sports go it's not that expensive. Golfing, diving, skiing, dog agility -- these things get expensive quickly.