Race irritations

OK, I have to vent now. I realize that I'm much older than when I used to run and obviously the average price for races have gone up. And I'm all for raising fees every now and then based on the rising costs associated to putting on races. However, some races have gotten down right rediculous in some aspects.

One race I've always raved about for the past few years has been the Georgetown to Idaho Springs half marathon. Its a rolling downhill starting at 8500' and ending at 7500'. Great run mostly along a frontage road with a bit of trail and the rest road to the finish. And what better way to run a half marathon for only $25.00??? All the proceeds go to the local high school which is even better. However, this year the fee was raised to $30.00. Still, a good value for a longer race. The thing that really irritates me is the late fee they decided to impose this year. Usually there is a late fee of $5.00 or even $10.00, especially for an inexpensive race. But no, not this year! Problem number 1: $20.00 late fee! Problem number 2: Instead of charging a late fee during the standard few days to a week prior to a normal race, this year competitors had to pay the late fee an entire 4 (yes, four) weeks in advance!

What kind of crap is that this??? I know that even with the late fee its still a good value but come on, is $20 really fair and do you have to force people to decide that early? With so many races, a lot of us decide only a week or two before a race. I've come across quite a few other people that are not very happy with the late fee. $5.00 increase for the race is more than fair. $20.00 additional for a late fee which almost doubles the entry fee? Not fair!

Of course it is a BKB run event which is notorious for mismarking miles and has some other irritating facets of their races such as poor organization. There are quite a few races I refuse to run because they put it on. I hope I'm not given a reason to stop running the GT-to-IS half. It is one of only a handful I'd run of theirs, which is a nicely organized event. But that handful is quickly trickling away.

OK, done.