Angry Al Speaks

In January I posted an article entitled Angry Al's Advice. Al was a runner who my friends and I used to do our long runs with. He was outspoken and opinionated but his rants voiced during the course of these runs always got you thinking whether you agreed with him or not.The following is something he wrote about recently,it pertains to the cost of entering races and prizes. I should preface this by saying that Al is writing of his experiences as it relates to the Buffalo,N.Y. road racing scene where the post race beer flows freely as provided by event organizers.Perhaps the road racing in your area is similar to his. I will admit that I am one of the people Al is critical of here,those of us who have complained about high entry fees. Al speaks: "I am so tired of runners whining about paying $25 to run a road race. Think about it; where else can you get a t-shirt,race over a measured course,eat food after and have all the beer you want to drink for $25? To top it off,the race fee you pay usually goes to some charitable cause that puts on the race. Let's get to the real problem,the majority of runners I've known over the years are cheap. They'll pay all kinds of exorbitant prices for shoes and gear but squawk when asked to pay $25 to race. If they want to complain about something,why don't they complain about the 5 year age divisions and the 5 deep prizes that seem to be the norm at races these days? That's costing someone a ton of money to pay for that."