Competitor Group Ends Elite Support (Read 613 times)

MJ5


Chief Unicorn Officer

    Apparently, no one cares what happens at the front of races.

     

    http://www.runblogrun.com/2013/08/competitor-group-cgi-eliminates-any-and-all-support-of-elite-athlete-fields-in-north-american-events.html

     

    (I don't know how to make that a clickable link on iPhone)

    Mile 5:49 - 5K 19:58 - 10K 43:06 - HM 1:36:54

      They are the giant leech sucking all the resources out of the sport.  Crap overpriced overcrowded parade races, crap company. I'll never run one of their events.


      Feeling the growl again

        "CGI had made a strategic business decision that the 240,000 plus participants have little or no interest in the front of races"

         

        Sadly, this is accurate.  Parade races, color runs, light runs, taste runs...those who do races for speed or to be part of an exciting, fast race are now a small minority that likely avoid CGI like the plague already.

        "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

         

        I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

         


        Kalsarikännit

          More and more, especially, in North America, running is loosing its sporting sensibility

           

          Sigh.

          I want to do it because I want to do it.  -Amelia Earhart

           

          MJ5


          Chief Unicorn Officer

            They are the giant leech sucking all the resources out of the sport.  Crap overpriced overcrowded parade races, crap company. I'll never run one of their events.

            I have done some RNR races but only at my friends' choosing. I haven't done any in years and don't plan to for these very reasons.

            Mile 5:49 - 5K 19:58 - 10K 43:06 - HM 1:36:54


            Dream Maker

              They clearly misunderstood.  It's not that I don't care what happens at the front of the field at RNR, it's that I don't care about ANYtHING that happens at RNR

               

               


              Feeling the growl again

                More and more, especially, in North America, running is loosing its sporting sensibility

                 

                 

                 

                IMHO this quote is not accurate (for more than the reason you point out!).  The competitors and sportsman are still in the sport.  Our world class talent pool would not have recovered to the point that it has over the past 15 years if there were no heart in our sport; it takes a development pipeline to build that sort of talent pool.  It's just that there are now large numbers of people that run these things for other reason so the competitors get lost in the noise.

                "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                 

                I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                 

                  Competitor Group puts on mass-participation parades that have little do with the sport of competitive distance running. From my perspective, our sport is alive and doing quite well, and CGI simply isn't part of it. They may very well have a successful business model, but it has nothing to do with competitive distance running.

                   

                  I've never run one of their events and I never will. If they take over a race that I like, I will never run that race again. This is an easy statement to make since I live in New England where there are more road races than anywhere else, but I'm still making it.

                  Runners run


                  Feeling the growl again

                    One little nugget in this I missed the first time through was how draconian the implementation is.  They will not honor appearance fees or travel for elites at races only a couple weeks out from now.  I can understand running a business...and I am sure they have holes in their contracts they can drive a truck through....but this shows poor ethics IMHO.  They've been doing this long enough, I seriously doubt it would significantly impact the company to follow through on existing obligations while not committing to new ones.

                    "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                     

                    I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                     

                    Slo


                      Competitor Group puts on mass-participation parades that have little do with the sport of competitive distance running. From my perspective, our sport is alive and doing quite well, and CGI simply isn't part of it. They may very well have a successful business model, but it has nothing to do with competitive distance running.

                       

                      I've never run one of their events and I never will. If they take over a race that I like, I will never run that race again. This is an easy statement to make since I live in New England where there are more road races than anywhere else, but I'm still making it.

                       

                      I agree mostly with mikeymike. It's sad though to see an organization that believes it does not need to give back to it's very own community that supports it. I'm pretty sure the figure of $450,000 dollars to support the elite's is a drop in the bucket.

                       

                      While they may have little to do with the sport of competetitive running they very well could. I'd love to see Brooks, Nike, Addias etc come out pubilicly against thier decision.

                         

                        While they may have little to do with the sport of competetitive running they very well could. I'd love to see Brooks, Nike, Addias etc come out pubilicly against thier decision.

                         

                        This is an interesting point. How much does CGI earn from sponsorships/advertising paid by these companies?

                          Their profits are also padded by use of volunteers for number pickup and water stations along the course.  I wonder how many volunteers know they're working for free for a for profit company.

                          Slo


                            I would like to see some public backlash for thier decision but I highly doubt this will be the case.

                             

                            If a small time marathon like Green Bay WI or a even smaller Quad Cities IL charity race can comp elites why the hell can't a multi million for profit enity afford too?


                            Feeling the growl again

                              I would like to see some public backlash for thier decision but I highly doubt this will be the case.

                               

                              If a small time marathon like Green Bay WI or a even smaller Quad Cities IL charity race can comp elites why the hell can't a multi million for profit enity afford too?

                               

                              They seem to position this as a purely business decision, but there are other possibilities...part of it branding.  Their business model is all about the "event", not a race.  There is a large event I have done in the past (which shall remain nameless) which used to have a public elite entry program.  When they stopped publicizing it, the statement basically read that they felt continuing to publicize an elite program might make runners in an event promoted for its numbers feel bad because fast people were getting special consideration.  So the elite program is there to this day, and the qualifications haven't changed.  But if you don't know about it and directly approach the RD about it, you'd never know it existed.

                               

                              I could not put it past CGI to follow the same thought process.

                              "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                               

                              I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                               


                              Why is it sideways?

                                My guess is that they realize it is actually GOOD press for them to make this move. Your standard marathon runner likely feels like the fact that someone is fast doesn't mean they deserve special treatment and would prefer that their entry fee be spent on their amenities.