I’ve heard a lot of criticism of the Houston Marathon & Half Marathon over the years, but I’ve never bought into it because I’ve always had such a good experience with the race. But this year, they’ve done something pretty sketchy.
Last year the race sold out in September and a lot of people got shut out. They race did allow bib transfers, which was done by you selling your bib to someone else. That person then paid a transfer fee and the marathon took care of updating their records. Much of the process was done outside of the marathon’s control, and there were plenty of people who were actually making a profit by selling their race bib.
This year, the race sold out — all 18,000 spots taken — two days ago. I bought my bib in January, mere days after the 2008 race because 1) it was only going to get more expensive and 2) I figured that if I was traveling or injured for the 2009 race — an entire year in the future from when I registered — I could sell the bib. I would sell it at cost, just to recoup my registration fees, but that’s beside the point. Of course I plan to run the race, and at the moment with six months still to go, I don’t anticipate being out of town or injured. I certainly intend to run 13.1 miles through Houston on January 18, 2009.
But if I can’t run, I no longer have the option of selling my bib — even at cost. This year’s transfer policy involves going through the race organization itself and basically returning the bib to them. They then send you a partial refund. Even if you registered at the cheapest price, like I did, you get back $25 less than you paid.
Now, I don’t want to sound too whiny. After all, two years ago, there was no transfer option. Two years ago if you got injured and couldn’t run the race, you were simply out the $60, $70, $80, etc that you paid. No transfer, no refunds. I’ve had to eat plenty of race registration fees over the years when something has come up and I’ve had to skip the race, so I am grateful that a transfer policy exists. Having a transfer option at all, even if you don’t get a full refund, is far better than nothing.
But the thing is, they do have a transfer policy now, but a different policy than last year. And they didn’t announce it until after the race sold out. Which means 18,000 people registered for this race assuming that the transfer policy would be last year’s policy. Lots of people got shut out last year, which means lots of people registered early to avoid just that.
I’m sure that there are some people out there who registered for the race without any intention to run, and planned from the get-go to turn around and sell the bib. I don’t really have any sympathy for those people. But I am annoyed on behalf of the thousands of runners, myself included, who registered very early despite the risks associated with that. The earlier you register for a big race like a half or full marathon, the bigger the risk is that something will happen that prevents you from running. Encouraging people to register early — 6-12 months ahead of the event — and then changing the transfer policy on them after the last bib is sold is totally sketchy in my book. I highly doubt anyone from the marathon reads my blog, but if they do, I just wanted them to know.
I’ll still be out there running the course in January, just as I’ve been there for the past five years.
Very sketchy indeed.
I agree – it’s not the fact that they changed the policy that’s sketchy, but the fact that they changed it *after* the race sold out. Not cool. (Although at least they still have a transfer option. I really wish more major races did that.)
I certainly dont think they did it (not saying the policy after it sold out)for any reason that might be deemed sketchy but who am I to say?
I think that is FABULOUS that they did this because last year so many scalpers bought the damn bibs and were auctioning off on ebay for astronomical numbers!
Would it have sold out so quickly if the scalpers knew ahead of time? I dont know. And really dont care.
What I wish would happen is that Houston would do like NYC and that people wanting to run Houston had to run a certain number of sanctioned races AND volunteer at ONE race to be eligible to purchase a spot.
I agree with June…timing could have been improved to be sure, but I think all they’re trying to do is discourage scalping and create an organized approach to matching sellers and buyers.
When I purchased my bib a few months ago, I figured if I couldn’t run, I’d sell the bib, like you Sarah, at my cost. I’m not in it to make money, but I didn’t want to miss out on running it if I could. My goal this year is to run Sunmart, and if I come out of that ok, run Houston. If I get injured, I’d sell my bib.
There was no mention of a change in last year’s policy, and my guess is that they did this to prevent the scalping. My feeling is that if someone wants to pay the ridiculous amount of money that a scalper might charge, then they should be allowed to. If you want to run a race that badly and didn’t register in time, (I can’t think of ANY race that I would pay that much for), then pay the price. I think Houston is figuring that it isn’t fair to them because they don’t make that extra cash.
Now, if 1,000.00 people have to turn in their bibs, that an additional 25,000 that they make. Not too mention the additional fees that they will sell the bib for, I’m sure at the last stated price when it sold out, if not higher. Something is sketchy here, and dare I say it, a bit stinky too…
I will reconsider registering next year now.