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Nov 2023
9:00am, 30 Nov 2023
1,321 posts
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Shades
Lots of races used to hand out the same medals every year with a new ribbon with the relevant date/year. A sensible way to keep costs down especially for smaller races.
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Nov 2023
9:12am, 30 Nov 2023
49,323 posts
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EvilPixie
what about a generic medal and the ribbon being a lanyard as most people have to use one for work these days?
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Nov 2023
9:14am, 30 Nov 2023
3,484 posts
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Fitz
I have never thrown a medal away but they all sit in a bag in a drawer slowly getting heavier... when the time comes for a cull, I will probably ditch all but the mara and maybe half mara ones. If I had a bigger house they could go on display in my "gym" (garage) but no plans for that right now.
Race t-shirts usually fit me ok but quality is highly variable. Plus if they're red and / or so heavily plastered in sponsors' logos that the material can't breathe, they ain't getting worn.
Echoing what others have said about the desirability of medals and other goodies probably being in proportion to the participant's experience of races, it seems fairest (but an admin drag) to price in / out various options so those who want bling get it, and those who want cheaper racing get it. I have seen races where the runner's number is marked with what options they have chosen, so there's no cheating in the finish pen!
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Nov 2023
11:34am, 30 Nov 2023
30,527 posts
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Rosehip
If I were you I'd make medals an optional (paid for) extra, and give a cut-off date (e.g. 16-weeks beforehand, based on your quoted lead times) after which medals are not available.
I’ve seen this done with some smaller events, might encourage some to enter earlier but also others to enter a little later if it’s going to be cheaper.
I like having medals for key events hanging up but would rather see events continue than have a medal
Locally made wooden medals or “buff”, coasteretc preferable to a bit of metal.
Must look at doing your event next year, leep saying I will and never organise self to do so!
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Nov 2023
12:08pm, 30 Nov 2023
11,835 posts
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Fragile Do Not Bend
Personally I love getting a medal regardless of what it’s made of - I do get pleasure from seeing them hung on the wall. Sadly I’ve had to cull some due to lack of space (I still have them, just not hung up).
I guess if a race had an optional medal I would have bought one every time in my first few years of racing but now I’d probably only buy one for halves and above.
I do know a lot of people who seem mortally offended if a race doesn’t have a big shiny medal so you can’t please everyone! 🤷♀️
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Dec 2023
12:58pm, 1 Dec 2023
34,548 posts
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Foxy
everyone is different, minimum order quantities can make bespoke medal ordering difficult.
I have 5km runners who wouldn't come without a medal as they can do parkrun for nothing without a medal.
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Dec 2023
1:15pm, 1 Dec 2023
275 posts
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hellywobs
I like medals and when I first started running, I wouldn't (generally) enter a race if there wasn't one. But I don't care so much now as I don't really know what to do with them all.
I don't particularly like t-shirts because they are usually unisex (which means male cut) and even if they do a ladies fit, it's difficult to have all the right sizes by the time the slower ladies finish.
A local race had a plastic medal instead of a metal medal this year - not sure why they thought plastic was better. In fact I think metal is quite sustainable as it can be melted down again, but I guess not if it needs to come from China.
Near where my mum lives in Devon, there is a ladies 10k. They give out a numbered picture each year. So for example, if you are 50th you get a picture with 50 on it. The winners get a larger version. That's a nice idea.
I would quite like to get rid of some of my medals if I could find somewhere that takes them to melt them down (without having to pay £xxxx to send a heavy parcel somewhere).
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Dec 2023
9:26pm, 2 Dec 2023
10,489 posts
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BaronessBL
Just found this thread. As a participant I am not bothered by medals although something useful like a mug would get used even though I have loads of running event mugs now! I organised a series of races over the summer in aid of charity. It was very low entry fee but for those who did all four of the series I was going to provide a 'memento' - the idea being that I would order the memento after race 3 so that I would have some idea of how many (or at least the maximum number) I would need. This didn't go as well as I'd hoped. Most small scale order 'mementoes' were out of my budget (it was an inexpensive entry fee). In the end I had to order generic medals rather than event specific and I still had to put in a minimum order that was more than I needed but was still cheaper than ordering the exact number of mugs or whatever. I did 'sell' some of the left over medals at the final event to people who hadn't done all 4 but wanted a medal anyway and that did recoup some of the cost but still less than 25% of it.
I've donated a number of left over medals to the charity (they are dated 2023 - again not helpful with hindsight) and at the moment I have considered it a personal donation rather than taking the rest of the money out of the funds raised by the event. A costly lesson to learn though.
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Dec 2023
9:28pm, 2 Dec 2023
10,490 posts
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BaronessBL
But from a participant perspective I would rather have the option on entering to pay X amount entry fee to include a medal or a cheaper (early bird?) entry fee but no medal. But with a cut off date for ordering medals after which the entry fee is a standard for all and no medals for those later entrants.
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Dec 2023
11:59am, 4 Dec 2023
39,925 posts
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Mrs Jigs (Luverlylegs)
It's nice to have a medal for marathons as that's quite an achievement, personally I am not bothered about medals or mugs/buffs etc, I would rather have discounted entry fee.
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Race prizes
Sep 2021