Cost of HOSTING a cycling event

[VicanZA]

Some people on thehub will tell you it doesn't matter how much it costs. Competition is the bread of life and without it we would become dullards.

 

The event organisers should also definitely fly out a host of pros and their teams to make the event better. 

 

The system is not flawed, people must just pay more because, well, if the event is fun and competitive and we get a winner then the process, the cost, the backhands and the stink don't matter. 

i dont care about pro riders, i cant even name any local pros...

[GrahamS2]

If there is no profit in it, why is there a stage race on every single weekend of the calendar in SA? Surely they're not all doing it out of goodwill? 

[VicanZA]

if they weren't making money they wouldn't be doing it.... fact.

 

goodness of you heart doesn't put food on the table.

[VicanZA]

It's a bit of a trade-off, having pros there and talking about it on social media raise the profile of your race and helps for marketing (and it's not as if you hand out 100's of entries for pros) - but whether it is worthwhile is debatable

dude i don't follow a single pro on FB or twitter! i don't think they have much pulling power. just look at how many followers they have.

[Skubarra]

Getting involved in a local school event completely changed my perspective of value-for-money for events. As mentioned above, overheads & organising going into an event are massive and usually not obvious for participants. I am certain there are easier & more efficient ways to make money given the time & effort that goes into an event, only way our school is making profit from this is because they have access to free labour and generous sponsors, the entry fees don't even cover the costs.

 

On a side - I think us as cyclists are also to blame with the "golf"-culture moving to mtbing, Sani2C & W2W set the standards and now we want to be spoiled at every event with gourmet spreads at waterpoints, beer gardens, live entertainment, kiddie playgrounds etc (but we prefer not to pay extra for this) 

 

I would love to see more events that are cheap with zero bells & whistles where it is only about the cycling, like some of the road league events hosted by WP Cycling.

[Skubarra]

dude i don't follow a single pro on FB or twitter! i don't think they have much pulling power. just look at how many followers they have.

 

That's why I said debatable  Giving free entries to 4 or 5 pros are not going to make a difference to the bank balance of the organisers in the bigger scheme of things, but yes, I wouldn't rely on them to market my event.

[seven]

If there is no profit in it, why is there a stage race on every single weekend of the calendar in SA? Surely they're not all doing it out of goodwill?

It sounds like loads of these are still working towards a break-even point... I would guess that many of these will fold...

[Pieter-za]

. And my organisers are now shifting to trail running where the numbers are growing.. The regulations are less and you seem to be able to get away with charging a small fortune for entry.

 

Indeed - the next big rip-off in many instances.  (Not all though)   Just slap the word 'Trail' onto a race description and suddenly the organisers are printing money.  Will this model last?  We will see.  Out of principle we don't enter or support these kind of events whereas if it was reasonable priced there would actually have been more money to be made?

 

(Apart from that, consider that It is also becoming quite unaffordable in general especially when e.g. a family of 3 or 4 is running, so in our case we made alternate plans to get out on trails and nature rather than to e.g. pay up to ~R150-R180 per person for a  hyped up 10-12k trail run.   Luckily those alternative opportunities still do exist.)

[Stretch]

Indeed - the next big rip-off in many instances. (Not all though) Just slap the word 'Trail' onto a race description and suddenly the organisers are printing money. Will this model last? We will see. Out of principle we don't enter or support these kind of events whereas if it was reasonable priced there would actually have been more money to be made?

 

(Apart from that, consider that It is also becoming quite unaffordable in general especially when e.g. a family of 3 or 4 is running, so in our case we made alternate plans to get out on trails and nature rather than to e.g. pay up to ~R150-R180 per person for a hyped up 10-12k trail run. Luckily those alternative opportunities still do exist.)

Slap the word "colour" in front of run and you get the opportunity to do even more ripping off

[Pieter-za]

Slap the word "colour" in front of run and you get the opportunity to do even more ripping off

Hehe - indeed

And BTW, wasn't referring to you or org, was making general comments based on some website info and flyers  

 

E.g. I paid R220 for the (new) Harrismith 30km trail run event (which will be held icw with the more 'traditional' 15km (R120) Platberg run in Oct), and I think it is very reasonably priced.  (I don't have any link to the org's at all, just stating an example.)

[mazambaan]

I'm not criticising anyone but Farmer Glen's farming must really have benefited from him devoting a lot of time to race organisation (or he's doing quite well out of Sani).   Not begrudged; by me anyway.

[seven]

I'm not saying Sani is not making big bucks... They definately are!!!

 

Personally I just didn't realise how expensive these events are to host...

[Stretch]

I'm not criticising anyone but Farmer Glen's farming must really have benefited from him devoting a lot of time to race organisation (or he's doing quite well out of Sani). [emoji317] Not begrudged; by me anyway.

Sani is slightly different... He spotted a niche market and grabbed it. It's not cheap.. But not ridiculous either. In this instance you are paying entirely for personal perks.... And quality kit. My sani jackets have been very useful here in Eiere.

[Pieter-za]

Sani is slightly different... He spotted a niche market and grabbed it. It's not cheap.. But not ridiculous either. In this instance you are paying entirely for personal perks.... And quality kit. My sani jackets have been very useful here in Eiere.

I was under the impression Underberg(?) Marathon Club hosted it, or did it change?  

When we did it last year it (the general 'ambience') was slightly 'different' than the previous year though...

 

Oh ok - there are two Sani's - run (crawl) and MTB...

[GrahamS2]

It sounds like loads of these are still working towards a break-even point... I would guess that many of these will fold...

Yeah, not the ones I know details on. They've made money from event one.

[Stretch]

I was under the impression Underberg(?) Marathon Club hosted it, or did it change?

When we did it last year it (the general 'ambience') was slightly 'different' than the previous year though...

 

Oh ok - there are two Sani's - run (crawl) and MTB...

Haven't done it for at least 4 years now... So I don't know about the ambience. Pretty sure it's all glen. He just bought another farm in the area for about 10 mill... So he's not doing badly... But remember that also includes joberg2c dusi2c and imana

 

Edit: oh yes the sani stagger is a run organised by the local running club