Quote:
Originally Posted by mrkajz44
I don't think weather was that big of a factor since you have to sign up weeks/months in advance knowing the weather is a gamble (though August is usually pretty safe).
I'm struggling to see how these races can keep up though. The group of people who keep coming back every year is too small to sustain the race - it just takes too many man hours to set up and take down a course for the hardcore people to cover the costs. So they need to attract the more casual runners to help get revenue up. Unfortunately, the casual person is likely to only do one or two of these and then say "I've done one, that's all I need". I'm guessing the conversion from someone doing it for the first time to doing it for a fifth time is very low (less than 5%). They can tap into the casual pool only a few times and then the pool shrinks each year.
I say all this as a person who really does like these races. But this year the whole thing just felt empty and unexciting - I don't hold out long-term hope.
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For whats its worth a buddy of mine who does these competitively and sponsored and all that is quite excited for the new company taking over.