Race give aways, Like them or hate them? (Read 772 times)

I personally don't care for them / would rather have lower fees.  The only give-away I did like was a 30% discount at a local running store.  I usually don't pick up the shirt.  I think this is mostly because I can't use them due to nipple friction -- even the tech shirts.

However, I do like other people wearing the shirt around town and at the gym.  It advertises the sport.  We have a pretty vibrant running community here and it's nice to see so many folks walking around touting their participation in the local 10miler.

So, I'd prefer the keep giving out good shirts.  I can do without the door-prizes though -- not sure what I'd do with a $50 gift card to Bath & Bodyworks anyway.

I think the RDs and race organizers who have a good vision for the goal of their swag do the best job, overall. 

Some races seem to focus on promoting the local area, or the local running community (stores, clubs, other races,etc).  These are good.

Others seem to stuff in a bunch of runner sample things -- focused on running. Samples, offers, etc. Good.

And the worst is when it's just a bunch of random stuff. Not good.

If the purpose is to attract people to your race the swag can draw people -- good stuff gets people to pay the entry and show up, partially to get the good stuff. Shirts, hats, socks, whatever.

If the purpose is to build community, the swag should be for whatever that community is. Like a race for a non-profit should have swag that supports other non-profits -- like a offers for membership, or special donation offers (like a raffle to drive the zamboni).

As the drop-out option, there should always be the "give me nuttin" option for some $ off (and it doesn't have to be much...like $5 off).

I had to look up 'cromulent' to see if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Others seem to stuff in a bunch of runner sample things -- focused on running. Samples, offers, etc. Good.

And the worst is when it's just a bunch of random stuff. Not good.

The last race I entered definitely fell into the big-bag-o-crap category. Held it over the garbage can and shook vigorously.

I'd rather have the money available spent on good food / drink for after the race rather than goodie bag filler / shirts.  

But that is just me.  I like good food and drink.

I'm torn. Rick has AWESOME goodies, the duffle bag I got from last years NJ Ultra fest  is AWESOME! I use it  SOOOOOOO much!  Also since most of my Ultra's are fat ass's it's really nice to have a finishers medal! I like how you did it last year where you could order what you wanted. Oh and no one does shirts quite the way you do, so I say love the give a ways!

See, this gets to my (personal) issue with answering the question directly.  The generic answer is "eh, do away with that stuff and make the race cheaper".  But when the stuff is done right... and alas, I can't answer what that means easily... I LOVE it.

For example, I have a keychain from a local 50k.  I love it.  Don't know why.

Well, one thing I could do without.  Socks as the cool item.  They almost never fit, and they aren't my trusted brands anyway, so I don't wear them.

The last race I entered definitely fell into the big-bag-o-crap category. Held it over the garbage can and shook vigorously.

One contributor is having to stuff bags with something from each of the sponsors. But, I don't know any solution to this. It is a tedious amount of work (stuffing all the bags), and sad when one knows how it just leads to runners dumping it all back out. Like the poor slobs at the postal service stuffing junk mail into all the mailboxes, I guess.