goody bags!

Krusty_Clown

In one of the Adidas race series events last year one of my friends got a jar of mustard in his goodie bag. It was three months out of date. wtf?!
Just what you need after a good race!

Peckham

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

In one of the Adidas race series events last year one of my friends got a jar of mustard in his goodie bag.

That's made an appearance at a few of the adidas series races...must be one of the bizarrest things ever to appear in a goodie bag! At least most other things (t-shirt, water, chocolate, deodorant, shampoo) have some link with running. Unless I'm missing something, there is no link between running and mustard!

ecoli

Peckham wrote: »

That's made an appearance at a few of the adidas series races...must be one of the bizarrest things ever to appear in a goodie bag! At least most other things (t-shirt, water, chocolate, deodorant, shampoo) have some link with running. Unless I'm missing something, there is no link between running and mustard!

Or maybe mustard has secret nutritional benefits we havent been made aware of just yet?:P

Stark

Could ask in the Mustard forum, they might know (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=457)

ss43

Vaseline all the way. I like to celebrate in style.

Krusty_Clown

ecoli wrote: »

Or maybe mustard has secret nutritional benefits we havent been made aware of just yet?:P

Out of date mustard? Maybe it ferments after its sell-by date, into some form of anabolic steroid?

Stupid_Private

Stark wrote: »

Could ask in the Mustard forum, they might know (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=457)

Bah! How the Fck is there a mustard forum?!

limerickleader

Worst goody bag and worst race tshirt award so far for '09 must surely go to the Cupids Dash in the Phoenix Park...chocful of paper and quite possibly the worst t-shirt to have ever seen the light of day. Red, with white love hearts on the front, while on the back were the addresses of maybe 8 different lonely hearts/dating sites...needless to say, all the t-shirt was used for was to clean my spikes...

Stupid_Private

limerickleader wrote: »

Worst goody bag and worst race tshirt award so far for '09 must surely go to the Cupids Dash in the Phoenix Park...chocful of paper and quite possibly the worst t-shirt to have ever seen the light of day. Red, with white love hearts on the front, while on the back were the addresses of maybe 8 different lonely hearts/dating sites...needless to say, all the t-shirt was used for was to clean my spikes...

From what I recall there was a fancy water, some healthy biscuit bar thing or other and a box of porridge at that race. Thumbs up from me. Once I can eat or drink what I'm given I'm happy.

RJC

I don't mind the advertising. My dream tee shirt would say something like: I am dead hard and I ran a killer marathon in _____.

Or something that would let all the 5k heroes know that I'm only holding back to make them look good

limerickleader

Stupid_Private wrote: »

From what I recall there was a fancy water, some healthy biscuit bar thing or other and a box of porridge at that race. Thumbs up from me. Once I can eat or drink what I'm given I'm happy.

You're right...there was free porridge at the end. Apologies - my memory is scarred by the thoughts of that t-shirt

Stupid_Private

limerickleader wrote: »

You're right...there was free porridge at the end. Apologies - my memory is scarred by the thoughts of that t-shirt

I didn't take the t-shirt. As crap as it was you can't really hold a red t-shirt with hearts on it against them considering they were trying to theme a race. Other things I'll hold against them but not that.

hunnymonster

For anyone who judges a race by their goodie bag, you've got to run the Seville marathon! For a massive €13 entry fee there was a tech teeshirt and shorts, socks, a bath towel, medal and enough food to feed us for about a week.


For local races, I prefer a cheap race with tea afterwards to a goodie bag but for things like ironman, I like the goodie bag, I feel if they are going to charge me €450 to enter, at least I can have something other than dodgy tan lines to show for it.

jeffontour

Only today I noticed that there will be no beer and whiskey in this years Westhighland Way goody bag. In previous years there was a bottle of local beer with your name printed on the label and a wee bottle of whiskey to warm the cockles for all starters.

The recession sucks!

jb-ski

thanks for all the replies. I'd forgotten about the out of date mustard!!! medals for me are just dust-collectors too, however Mrs jb-skihas hers proudly hanging in the wardrobe for motivation, so i guessit's horses for courses. so technical T-shirts with discreet logos seems to be a priorityfor starters. on the Kilcock/Athy late /non delivery of T-shirts, i better make sure Ladytri orders ours in plenty of time for the Lough Key Triathlon

jb-ski

jb-ski wrote: »

thanks for all the replies. I'd forgotten about the out of date mustard!!! medals for me are just dust-collectors too, however Mrs jb-skihas hers proudly hanging in the wardrobe for motivation, so i guessit's horses for courses. so technical T-shirts with discreet logos seems to be a priorityfor starters. on the Kilcock/Athy late /non delivery of T-shirts, i better make sure Ladytri orders ours in plenty of time for the Lough Key Triathlon

sorry about punctuation, don't know what i did!!

merlie

I like the goody bags! They usually contain promotional samples. I am not keen on all the leaflets, I don't mind the coupons but usually the leaflets are bin material. I like the cosmetic samples and drinks.

It is nice to get a goody bag and it is usually an incentive for people to sign up for the marathon or whatever the event may be.

Long live the goody bag!

chinguetti

A bit of food and water in a bag are good idea, loads of paper are not. Good way to get free samples too.

Medals aren't the be all for me but t-shirts are a nice touch if done well. Did the Cork Marathon a couple of weeks ago and the t-shirt was dire. I'm torned between washing it (it will surely fall apart) or binning it. Have yet to get a t-shirt i'ld wear heading to the shops to buy a pint of mile.

theFinishLine

This is an interesting debate on the various aspects of entry-fee vrs t-shirt-vrs goody bag. From my opinion you need to look into the entry-fee a bit further before the goody bag and t-shirt is analysed. In many cases the entry-fee is a fund-raiser for the local club that is hosting the event. They simply don't get the numbers for entry to have a decent t-shirt and goody bag. As someone who has been involved in the organisation of several 5KM and 10KM races around Ireland it is rather difficult to get "local sponsors" to donate a pallet load of water, lucozade, bananas, whatever to the goody bag. And that was in the good times - now that the big "R" is hitting every business this is getting even harder.

In regard to the marathons/half marathons and their entry fee - I have been unfortunate enough to have not finish a couple of marathons and an ultra and have wound up in hospital/medical tent on race day. So the 50 euro or 70 euro entry fee is small fry given the top-notch-treatment I recieved on every occasion. If I had to visit my doctor then go to the hospital etc... it would be more than my race entry ... I know the economics of it - every runner is paying a lump towards this and only a tiny percentage of runners actually end up needing these services - well no runner wants to be visiting the medics on a marathon day So my attitude is - the race organisers are trying to make a few quid, there is money needed for the organisation/hire of equipment/buses if needed, etc and then the medics/doctors/etc. If we are able to afford to entry the races lets do so - isn't 100 euro a small price to pay given the endless lifetimes of happy memories a marathon brings.

RJC

Some good points but some of the best goodie bags and Tees come from small entry fee events - Cork to Cobh - €15-€20 witha decent Tee and bag. Don't forget, St. John's Ambulance/Red Cross are not for profit, Gardai are free as well and most races have voulenteers. For some point to point events buses are a cost but look at Ballycotton - €12 for a decent race with car parking and shuttle buses and a mug, water a banana and a mars bar for every finisher.

Some events are run by public authorities (Cork City Marathon) and trasparecy of the costs would be helpful so the pie of costs would be visible.

ladytri

jb-ski wrote: »

thanks for all the replies. I'd forgotten about the out of date mustard!!! medals for me are just dust-collectors too, however Mrs jb-skihas hers proudly hanging in the wardrobe for motivation, so i guessit's horses for courses. so technical T-shirts with discreet logos seems to be a priorityfor starters. on the Kilcock/Athy late /non delivery of T-shirts, i better make sure Ladytri orders ours in plenty of time for the Lough Key Triathlon

I'm ahead of you on that on jb-ski, in discussions on technical tee's already:)
Great thread though and I'll definitely be taking all these points on board.

griffin100

Gardai are free as well

Not always. They do charge for some events.

robinph

It is possible to get the technical t's for relatively cheap entry fees though after the UK race I did the other week showed. Although it does have slightly more obvious advertising on it than the Adidas ones, which I'll have to defend again. They could be a lot more garish in the adverts on the back of them, but it is just a big white box on the back with a bunch of small ads in that really don't stand out that much.

I'd be more "offended" by the big C on the Cork Marathon T personally, and the less said about the Cupids Dash T the better.

Stark

griffin100 wrote: »

Hopefully this one doesn't dissapear in the post like may Kilcock one;)

Hmm, they were supposed to give an update on the jersey yesterday but no news was posted

RoyMcC

RJC wrote: »

Don't forget, St. John's Ambulance/Red Cross are not for profit, .

...but rely on contributions from the public, including organisers of events such as races. Those ambulances and that equipment don't come cheap.

Woddle

I went up to watch a 5k in Bohermeen, Co. Meath and for a cheap enough enrty fee you got an all you can eat BBQ, bun burgers, hot dogs and there was sandwiches, cakes, beer, live music and a few outside fires with seats. What a community effort and spirit to put on such a show. I had thought no one would come even close to what West Waterford put on but Bohermeen is now a clear winner. Well done Bohermeen AC.
Pictures of the race will appear here shortly.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25938822@N07/sets/72157619966993522/

meathcountysec

Woddle wrote: »

I went up to watch a 5k in Bohermeen, Co. Meath and for a cheap enough enrty fee you got an all you can eat BBQ, bun burgers, hot dogs and there was sandwiches, cakes, beer, live music and a few outside fires with seats. What a community effort and spirit to put on such a show. I had thought no one would come even close to what West Waterford put on but Bohermeen is now a clear winner. Well done Bohermeen AC.
Pictures of the race will appear here shortly.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25938822@N07/sets/72157619966993522/

And this wasn't a once-off, its like that every year. Even have marquees in case its an Irish summer's day:eek:

If you want good value racing, with a personal touch, look to the smaller club events not big price marketing extravaganzas

Ruarl Runner

+1 for Boheermeen, it was my first time to run this and me thinks I will be back again!!! Bar-b-que, sambos, drinks and friendly family atmosphere beats the pants off any of the goody bags I have received recently!!!