MTB Race Entry Fees....

[porqui]

I love mountain bike races - the bigger the better as well as more.

Somehow the more costly they are the more riders they attract.

 

While everyone is at the races I have a great choice of quiet trails to choose.

[Headshot]

On 7/8/2022 at 1:25 PM, sias said:

I can't wait for all the events the armchair specialists are going to put up for us! The best manicured tracks, expert medical services, the best food etc. etc... All at the bargain price of R50!!! 

Some people here need a real reality check - go out there and do it yourself, it's mos really easy? And it is really cheap? Come and report back when you are done and tell us if you would do it again. 

Speak to me and I'll send you on a free 60km route all over Table Mountain including some gnarly jeep and single track. Manicured single track is for gravel bikes. we're talking about mountain biking, okay?

[sias]

11 minutes ago, Headshot said:

Speak to me and I'll send you on a free 60km route all over Table Mountain including some gnarly jeep and single track. Manicured single track is for gravel bikes. we're talking about mountain biking, okay?

So will you have 2 ambulances, a medic on a quad, 3rd party insurance, well stocked water tables and sizeable goodie bag at your event?

We are talking about events and why they cost so much, not about what you can do in your free time.

 

[M L]

On 7/7/2022 at 8:27 PM, Block said:

I was also complaining about high entry costs untill I got involved in the planning of a potential multi stage MTB event. Once you take everything from entry system, registration, accomodation, trails, food, Marshall's, water points, medals etc etc into account, the true cost of presenting such an event is huge. If you don't have existing permanent facilities available and existing trails in place there is nothing in it for the organisers.Go do your sums and see for yourself

 

I call bull. Have spoken to someone who co-organises 1 race and some of the other organisers do other races as well.

The sponsors basically pay for 60-70% of the costs and then they pocket what's left over after the entry fees cover the rest - which is quite a bit.

I mean if you're only organising 1 event a year and you have to build a lot of the trails from scratch then sure - there's nothing in it. There's a reason the Cape Epic and W2W was bought by the Ironman group. Lots of money involved if your event gets big enough to attract proper sponsorships.

[Jewbacca]

22 minutes ago, M L said:

I call bull. Have spoken to someone who co-organises 1 race and some of the other organisers do other races as well.

The sponsors basically pay for 60-70% of the costs and then they pocket what's left over after the entry fees cover the rest - which is quite a bit.

I mean if you're only organising 1 event a year and you have to build a lot of the trails from scratch then sure - there's nothing in it. There's a reason the Cape Epic and W2W was bought by the Ironman group. Lots of money involved if your event gets big enough to attract proper sponsorships.

The Iron Man group (Wanda) subsequently sold them on as they didn't make enough money..... 😝

There is definitely money to be made in events. Done well, with the right balance. I know a number of event organisers who say the money comes from the short, easy, mass participation stuff and the big flag ship events tend to break even. 

But the little money makers wouldn't exist without the flagship stuff. 

So one needs to find that balance and that market consistency

[Headshot]

2 hours ago, sias said:

So will you have 2 ambulances, a medic on a quad, 3rd party insurance, well stocked water tables and sizeable goodie bag at your event?

We are talking about events and why they cost so much, not about what you can do in your free time.

 

Its a free event, so no, you can use your phone to call an ambulance and buy coffee and eats along the way if you wish. Are you in? 

[DieselnDust]

Just now, Headshot said:

Its a free event, so no, you can use your phone to call an ambulance and buy coffee and eats along the way if you wish. Are you in? 

Sounds like fun, sort of like my regular weekend rides only with a title 

[ChrisF]

6 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Sounds like fun, sort of like my regular weekend rides only with a title 

 

Cape Town By-Laws are another animal ....  

 

On Saturday I saw at least 4 groups of 20 to 30 riders out on Bottelary.  Practice rides, complete with back-up vehicles ....  Now if the same total number of riders took part in a "title event", then the By-Laws governing events was in FULL PLAY !!!

 

 

The amount of money required to comply with these By-Laws are frightning !!!!!!

[Skubarra]

4 hours ago, M L said:

I call bull. Have spoken to someone who co-organises 1 race and some of the other organisers do other races as well.

The sponsors basically pay for 60-70% of the costs and then they pocket what's left over after the entry fees cover the rest - which is quite a bit.

I mean if you're only organising 1 event a year and you have to build a lot of the trails from scratch then sure - there's nothing in it. There's a reason the Cape Epic and W2W was bought by the Ironman group. Lots of money involved if your event gets big enough to attract proper sponsorships.

That might be true for the very high profile races but for the most part organising races are certainly not easy money. For every Sani or Epic I can hand you a very long list of funrides and bigger name races that have fallen off the calendar. When I started cycling in 2011 here in the WC there were a choice of funrides to do every weekend - now I think I cannot think of one funride near CPT for the rest of July?

I have been helping out with a funride at our local high school the past few years and if it wasn't for the fact that the school had access to "free labour" to organise and generous sponsors to contribute it simply wouldn't be worth the effort to host the race every year. There are a lot of hidden costs and work not obvious to people participating.

Finally I think its not really the cost but cycling habits that have changed over the years, access to multiple trails are so much easier now, things like backpacking and self-guided tours give us so much more cycling options than what we had 10 years ago. At this point I would only consider parting with a few K for a stage race if it offers me an unique experience and there are not many of those around.

[Hairy]

On 7/10/2022 at 4:30 PM, porqui said:

I love mountain bike races - the bigger the better as well as more.

Somehow the more costly they are the more riders they attract.

 

While everyone is at the races I have a great choice of quiet trails to choose.

LOL .. I always used to plan a Tokai ride on Argus and Two Ocean's days ... best time to be riding there.

[Hairy]

8 hours ago, Headshot said:

Speak to me and I'll send you on a free 60km route all over Table Mountain including some gnarly jeep and single track. Manicured single track is for gravel bikes. we're talking about mountain biking, okay?

Nope, SANS parks want their pound of flesh to ride on Table Mountain

8 hours ago, sias said:

So will you have 2 ambulances, a medic on a quad, 3rd party insurance, well stocked water tables and sizeable goodie bag at your event?

We are talking about events and why they cost so much, not about what you can do in your free time.

 

You missing the point here. Headshot is offering a list / GPS (Possibly) type file of trails he recommends they ride when the JHB friends come to visit.
Kind of doing a rider helps rider out kind of community vibe thing.

[Hairy]

Personally, I miss the old events organised by the local communities or Lions group where they were volunteers gathering money for a local charity.

Riders were more chilled, people manning the stations wanted to be there and all was good.

 

[olmec]

6 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

The Iron Man group (Wanda) subsequently sold them on

Can you point me to a press release that states this?  I'd be super interested if that was the case.

[ChrisF]

19 minutes ago, Hairy said:

Personally, I miss the old events organised by the local communities or Lions group where they were volunteers gathering money for a local charity.

Riders were more chilled, people manning the stations wanted to be there and all was good.

 

 

Hoping the local bazaar type day races make a comeback in the Worcester Ceres valley.

[Danger Dassie]

17 minutes ago, olmec said:

Can you point me to a press release that states this?  I'd be super interested if that was the case.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wanda-sports-group-completes-the-sale-of-the-ironman-group-to-advance-and-announces-board-of-directors-changes-301096048.html#:~:text=BEIJING%2C July 20%2C 2020 %2F,broad range of media and

https://www.advance.com/news-/advance-completes-acquisition-of-the-ironman-group

 

[Mamil]

On 7/8/2022 at 1:25 PM, sias said:

I can't wait for all the events the armchair specialists are going to put up for us! The best manicured tracks, expert medical services, the best food etc. etc... All at the bargain price of R50!!! 

Some people here need a real reality check - go out there and do it yourself, it's mos really easy? And it is really cheap? Come and report back when you are done and tell us if you would do it again. 

You sound passed off @sias. I'm not saying it's easy or cheap to put an event together but that at over 1300 per day of riding it doesn't seem like a good value proposition to me as a consumer. Those are 2 different things.