FOMO
| Author | Date | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Barry Murray | Jan 7 2019, 3:48pm | FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) It seems that Race Organisers are cashing in on this FOMO. Everything from a city marathon to a local 5km is now "sold out" 6 months or longer in advance. If there are no transfers allowed, this causes a big problem. If you enter a race , 6 months or longer in advance, and for whatever reason you can't make it.... it means a lot of "no shows" on the day of the race and a lot of unhappy runners that would have liked to have done it. I'm wondering , given IMRA is non profit, could a rule be applied that there is a limit on early entries.... say a month or 6 weeks. That way, people have at least a chance to decide, people will know their own schedules better, and people will be at least know in 4wks whether they are prepared/non injured etc. What do people think ? |
| Stuart Scott | Jan 7 2019, 3:57pm | I'm glad you explained that acronym! You make a good point but I'd suggest the opposite - keep with the early entries and then re-open it in the run-up to the event. For the bigger events it makes sense to know potential numbers far in advance. Alternatively, the cap on entries may have been planned with a certain drop-out rate in mind in the first place, in which case re-opening will not be possible. In any case, I'm assuming your comment applies only to the 'special' races. I'm very happy that the normal IMRA events have entry on the day and hopefully it stays that way too! |
| Paul Tierney | Jan 7 2019, 7:27pm | Seems like making a rule for a problem that doesn’t exist. What’s the earliest sign up currently on the calendar? 2 months? That seems reasonable to me especially so the RD can get an idea of numbers. |
| Warren Swords | Jan 7 2019, 10:24pm | Completely agree with Barry re early entries. This year seems to be a bit crazy with race entries opening 10 months in advance along with requests for when summer race entries are open. I don’t think it’s an issue for IMRA at moment so it’d be great to keep races only opening a few weeks in advance. Barry’s suggestion sounds like a sensible proposal. |
| Barry Murray | Jan 8 2019, 10:30am | I know of one race at the end of the season already half full. My point is more a pre-emptive fix. Its not happening so much with IMRA for now, but could go that way with races like Maurice Mullins if it is let. Interesting suggestion from Stuart - open early, a percentage, but leave some places for the last few weeks open. That might work too. If we have 150 limit... open early for 100... then keep 50 for last few weeks. What we don't want to see is races selling out 6 months in advance, then only half the number showing up on race day. |
| Jeff Swords | Jan 8 2019, 5:00pm | @Stuart, "I'm assuming your comment applies only to the 'special' races." I think it could be an issue with races that have numbers restricted by NPWS. I don't think it reared its head in 2018, but I think there was at least one race (Brockagh?) in 2017 in which there were no places left for people that turned up on the day. So some sport of split between online/on the day entries or withholding of entries could sort this. |
| Robbie Williams | Jan 8 2019, 7:05pm | No issue here Races are approx 2 months (for bigger races). Reeks , interested parties sent in expression of interest and history. Nobody registered at all yet. Nobody has paid anything. I will consider those who said they are interested FIRST. It’s the first time this race has been run so I want to assess interest and numbers. Ps: large races need organization like buses, t-shirt orders, food etc which must be organized weeks in advance. With that when people decide they aren’t doing it for whatever reason, and want transfers etc, they forget that IMRA is full of VOLUNTEERS who already give a lot of their time, so why should they spend a lot more time Re-organizing transfers etc. We limit races mainly due to safety concerns and better organization. So that is why certain races are limited. This problem does not exist as Paul said above. |
| Pól Ó Murchú | Jan 8 2019, 7:31pm | Actually Jeff for that race that you mention in 2017 we had limited the number of online entries and while I can’t remember the exact number, I recall we based it on the average number of online vs vouchers over the previous weeks. We didn’t even reach the limit we had set for online entries...what did happen was we ended up with people turning up to register a lot earlier than normal to register on the night. |
| Brian Mullins | Jan 8 2019, 10:37pm | Agree with everything Robbie and Paul posted below. If it's a point to point race and you need to know numbers for a bus transfer then knowing the numbers as early as possible to book the transport makes real sense. If people drop out, fine at least you have a half empty bus or maybe even a full one if the entries are reopened a week before due to known drop outs in advance, but what if enough transport space hadn't been arranged? One can only imagine the choice words on this forum about such a let down! As regards a race where it requires vetting of experience it is not unreasonable to request a very early expression of interest of the expected numbers and their competence so an RD can determine an entry. Let's not confuse FOR PROFIT ultra and mountain races in Ireland and abroad (Zegama, MBM, etc etc) with what we have in IMRA. |
| Jeff Swords | Jan 9 2019, 9:25am | @Pol, cheers, wasn't aware of the limitations you had in place already to cover what I was saying for that particular race. |
