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Medals, or cheaper entries?

16 watchers
Nov 2023
5:46am, 29 Nov 2023
1,765 posts
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Mark J
I love a medal. I love the memories they invoke. And the thought of a shiny medal was enough to get our youngest to enter and complete her first race, last month age 6.
Nov 2023
5:51am, 29 Nov 2023
1,766 posts
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Mark J
How do you feel about wooden medals, do you feel that they are a less worthy replacement than good solid metal bling?


I got a wooden medal for the first time this year. It was large enough to become a coaster and it says as much in the back. Lovely idea.

Medals, are a novelty in New Zealand. So when you do get one, it is cherished. By me at least 😁
um
Nov 2023
11:36am, 29 Nov 2023
7,944 posts
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um
I prefer a 'useful' memento to a medal. Whether clothing, drinks mat/coaster, bottle opener or even a pen or something.
None of my medals mean much, but t-shirts have been well used (cotton or tech) and I'm disappointed when they finally fall apart.
What I'd really like though is some cotton shoulder bag/tote things. I can never get enough of those.
Nov 2023
11:44am, 29 Nov 2023
80,761 posts
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Gobi
I was never fussed about medals but liked trophies.

However when you spend 50 quid plus on an entry I don't want a piece of 20p twig that snaps on the way back to the car. May as well give me a coffee voucher.
Nov 2023
11:44am, 29 Nov 2023
49,287 posts
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EvilPixie
Oh yes I remember my first XC and finishing freezing cold then being given a mug

I was like WTF?
then when I got back to race HQ it was filled with cheap packet soup that tasted amazing as it was so cold!
Still have and use that mug now 20 years later
Nov 2023
2:08pm, 29 Nov 2023
10,005 posts
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minardi
I only keep medals from marathons or longer. All my shorter distance medals were sent to a recycling company and I don't bother collecting them at the finish line anymore. Having said that I received a very nice glass from a 10km in September (along with a bottle of beer), and I got upset when a local 5 miler only gave a bottle of water at the end when they used to do mugs. I was looking forward to expanding my collection.
Nov 2023
3:03pm, 29 Nov 2023
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BK brighter days ahead
Recently went through boxes in the loft of accumulated medals from the last 14 years, ( about 500 ) we kept a few special ones and took the rest to recycling centre ( ribbons removed and went to material waste ).
No longer pick medal up but ‘borrow’ one for a picture.

Wooden ones would be more ecological I guess but again taking one would soon create another batch of shoe boxes full of them ( over 50 events scheduled this year already ).

Perhaps you could have some medal photo cards created and an area for photo ops with other cards eg ‘l raced with/against the wind blowing in across the raging North Sea’?

Preference would be discounted entry or a more substantial post run treat.
Nov 2023
3:11pm, 29 Nov 2023
3,858 posts
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paulcook
(Side issue, maybe) Photo storage is not ecologically sound either. If the decision is based on carbon footprint etc, are medals less wasteful than a photo area?

Though I think your idea sounds a good one.
Nov 2023
4:27pm, 29 Nov 2023
19,610 posts
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Autumnleaves
For our club organised 10k next year - which is a big deal for us, but unless entries recover to pre-pandemic levels, relies on sponsorship to result in a profit - we are bringing back souvenir towels. We used to give them out years ago, and only switched to medals on the advice of an event organiser. We've had a few years of wooden medals and souvenir buff. The only issue we have with towels and no medals, is that we have nowhere to have sponsors' logos - which we have yet to solve! We can of course use the numbers - but they have traditionally been separately sponsored. It's a problem!
Nov 2023
4:32pm, 29 Nov 2023
1,313 posts
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Shades
Autumnleaves can you have the sponsors logos put on the towels. Would that be too expensive?

About This Thread

Maintained by DeeGee
I've just about recovered from a fantastic weekend organising an event.

Before the pandemic, people were keen to sign up early, by the summer I had plenty of funds in the event account and I could buy medals with impunity.

Since the pandemic, entries appear to come in a lot later. I was listening to one of the guys running this weekend and he was boasting of how he only ever enters events the week before so he gets to keep the money in his account rather than the race organisers.

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