This weekend is one of the busiest for those individuals that like to run.
San Marcos had two runs on Saturday, and Wimberley had a 4-mile run; and today the Texas Round Up 10K and 5K are being held in Austin. Looking at web sites of area running clubs and stores, there were 12 different runs in the central Texas area.
For a runner entering these races, the outcome can be a nice award if they ran a fast time; and every runner gets a T-shirt with a design on it advertising the race. The other side of the race is the race organizers and the time, effort and expense of putting a race on.
A small race will cost about $1,000 to put together. The cost of trophies, T-shirts, food, traffic control, food, advertising and various other costs such as bib numbers, pins, etc. all add up to putting on a race.
A larger race costs quite a bit more. The ARA-Moe’s Half Marathon and CASA 5K race here in town had expenses near $9,000 to put on. Some of this expense comes from awards to all runners after finishing, chip timing, the race finish line and cones, extra portable toilets, etc.
If the race costs so much to put on, the main reason for most races is to raise money for an organization or a cause. The key to making money on a race comes from a person or company sponsoring the organization or cause. Most causes are very worthwhile, such as scholarships for youth, CASA, education projects, and various other forms of worthwhile needs. The more a race organization can get from sponsors, the benefit is twofold for the race. One is that the organization will make more money from entrants in the race; and second, organizers can keep the cost of the entry down to benefit the runner.
Most races will make a little money, and some will make enough to be very beneficial for their cause. Little things help make a race a success.
One such thing is the T-shirt that organizers give to the runners. The sponsor gets their name on the back of the shirt; and if the shirt is one that runners like, the shirt becomes a walking billboard for that sponsor whereever they are seen.
If you start to think how often a runner covers several miles during a run every day, that shirt will be seen by a large number of people. And if the runner wears that shirt to other races out of town, the advertising goes with them and may last for a good length of time. I have seen shirts from races the runner ran a good ten years ago; and they are still wearing the shirt, and the advertising is still there. I have a shirt from the “25th Anniversary Hays Memorial Hospital 5K.” Now, how long ago was that?
The other item that runners remember is the award to the top finishers that the organizers hand out after the race. This past week, the Katherine Anne Porter School hosted the Dragon 5K in Wimberley. One of the major sponsors was the Wimberley Glass Works, and they made the awards for the winners and age-group top finishers.
Top finishers overall and in age groups received a very beautiful glass bowl. I talked with Bernadette Beck, the overall women’s champion, after the race about the award. Her comment was, “I’m glad I won this year, as when runners find out about these awards, they will show up in numbers to win an award.”
In fact, the men’s overall winner, Kyle Hausmann, was the son of Ken Hausmann, who won his age group, and they were taking two bowls home. His comment was, “We’ll make sure and be back next year, as these are the best awards around.” A small turnout this year, but next year will be bigger when the word gets out.
Sometimes it takes a few years to build a race up to where it will make enough money to really help the reason race organizers put the race on. And the more runners that enter a race, the more the sponsor advertising is seen. Often the organization is a group that the sponsor can write off as a tax deduction next year.
All in all, races are usually very worthwhile for runners, sponsors and the organization; and just the health-benefits part of running is great. Take time to thank the sponsors of these races; as if it was not for them, the race would not take place.
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