FYI, this is what happens when you sell your bib

[roomthreeseventeen]

via Rudy Navotny, who was announcing the DL half this weekend:

Need to mention something that happened at the Disneyland Half Marathon this past weekend because it's a subject that has been discussed a lot. So there we are calling the winners in and we were amazed by Stephanie Dinius who ran a new record 1:15:47 and then the announcer mat feeds us the name of the #2 female at approximately 1:19:00. Problem is that it was a man running with a females bib. I had to leave my perch to go find a race official, identify him so that he would be disqualified and then return to the business at hand which included bringing home the rightful owner of 2nd place AND our female Master's Champion Cindy Lynch ( Last year's winner!) Point is that is the type of thing that can happen when people sell or give away their bibs to another runner.

 

[fruitcakes24]

This might have actually been an innocent mistake. I read that some people were having legit issues with their tags not matching the bibs they were attached to.

 

[jmasgat]

You'd think that a person who was going to buy a bib would at least try to find one from a person of the same sex and close in age!

 

[FireDancer]

I really don't feel bad if the RD doesn't have a mechanism for the transfer of bibs from one person to another. Things come up and there should be a way for you to sell your tag and have it transfered to whomever bought it even if there is a charge. I don't care what excuse they have for not offering it, I find it unacceptable.

If it is a race that does offer bib transfers but the person didn't take advantage of it then I do feel as though they were wrong.

Back in 2011 one of my friends got hurt and couldn't run the Pittsburgh marathon. Another friend had waited too long to sign up and was closed out. Since the RD offered a way to transfer bibs for a charge the one friend sold the bib to the other minus the transfer charge and then they contacted the RD and had it changed in the system. This was a 20-something female selling a bib to a 40-something male. Had they not offered the transfer they would have still made the same arrangement but he would have just run as her. With current technology it is nothing more than a simple SQL statement to make the change.

I look at it like online piracy. Most people want to do the right thing but it has to be offered. If you aren't going to offer a legitimate way to accomplish the switch (or stream/download the content) people will just resort to illegitimate ways.

 

[IamTrike]

You'd think that a person who was going to buy a bib would at least try to find one from a person of the same sex and close in age!

Yeah it seems strange to me. Someone that is elite enough to run that fast should know enough to not do this.

That being said I think using this as an arguement against selling buying bibs/is a little bit of a stretch. With RD events costing as much as they do and selling out as fast as they do its not surprising that there is a subset of people that find out that they can not make the race and then try and sell their bibs to recoup some of their investment. I'm not advocating the process and know that it is against the rules, but I am not surprised that it happens.


hmmm it looks like Firedancer just made the point I was thinking about a lot more eloquently than I could.

 

[wiigirl]

Yeah it seems strange to me. Someone that is elite enough to run that fast should know enough to not do this.

That being said I think using this as an arguement against selling buying bibs/is a little bit of a stretch. With RD events costing as much as they do and selling out as fast as they do its not surprising that there is a subset of people that find out that they can not make the race and then try and sell their bibs to recoup some of their investment. I'm not advocating the process and know that it is against the rules, but I am not surprised that it happens.

Same here....

 

[Breyean]

If the guy who bought the bib simply removed the timing strip from the back, then there w/b no issues with awards if, as in this case, the person was that fast.

Do the race. Get your medal. Go home.

It's not as though having the timing chip is going to get your name even on the results web page, and you won't interfere with the standings of others.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I really don't feel bad if the RD doesn't have a mechanism for the transfer of bibs from one person to another. Things come up and there should be a way for you to sell your tag and have it transfered to whomever bought it even if there is a charge. I don't care what excuse they have for not offering it, I find it unacceptable.
.

Well, that's fine, but it's runDisney's right to disqualify you and the person who buys your bib. And they do it all the time.

 

[bumbershoot]

Given the popularity of the races, I don't understand why they don't allow people to do this.

But the fact is...they don't.

And in this case it was messing with someone else's bonafide super-good time, which is just wrong. I mean if some guy buys a bib and comes in before my super-slow time, meh, OK. He's pretty slow, LOL. But if I'm vying for first or second, dude, don't.

 

[Raenstoirm]

This irritates the crap out of me (the policy, not the people skirting the rules). I am a 30-something female. I could get pregnant at any point and, lets be honest, my running days might be over when that happens (I bow to you mommies that find the time to train for these things Even without children, I am finding it hard to fit in the time for long runs! Cant imagine training with a baby in tow! but anyway.....). Why cant I sell my bib if I get pregnant (or injured or what-have-you)? I can delay the run till next year, whoopdy-do. I have held back signing up for some races (such as the Disney's) because I dont know if I will be able to run them a year in advance and I dont want to output the money and have no way to get it back.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

This irritates the crap out of me (the policy, not the people skirting the rules). I am a 30-something female. I could get pregnant at any point and, lets be honest, my running days might be over when that happens (I bow to you mommies that find the time to train for these things Even without children, I am finding it hard to fit in the time for long runs! Cant imagine training with a baby in tow! but anyway.....). Why cant I sell my bib if I get pregnant (or injured or what-have-you)? I can delay the run till next year, whoopdy-do. I have held back signing up for some races (such as the Disney's) because I dont know if I will be able to run them a year in advance and I dont want to output the money and have no way to get it back.

Because that's their policy. If you are actively trying to get pregnant, don't sign up for the race.

 

[Aw Phooey]

Because that's their policy. If you are actively trying to get pregnant, don't sign up for the race.

I agree with your last sentence but that doesn't mean I agree with the policy. It's not exactly a big secret that Joey Fatone ran in his injured wife's place for the 2013 Goofy (he told the story again at Disneyland). Nothing against him but the rather public exception made by runDisney is an eyebrow raiser.

Surprises happen for a wide variety of reasons. Things fail. Infertility suddenly turns around. All of my marathon plans had to be postponed a year because of such a surprise. I'm just glad I didn't even have a chance to register for my races at the time.


Raenstoirm, it can be done if you have someone who has your back 110% My hubs would do backflips for me if it gets me across the finish line. It's harder but not impossible. Galloway's plan is pretty accommodating with the really long runs being every other week or every third week instead of every week. I tried doing a long run every weekend for the Donald and it just wore the both of us out.

 

[fairestoneofall]

This irritates the crap out of me (the policy, not the people skirting the rules). I am a 30-something female. I could get pregnant at any point and, lets be honest, my running days might be over when that happens (I bow to you mommies that find the time to train for these things Even without children, I am finding it hard to fit in the time for long runs! Cant imagine training with a baby in tow! but anyway.....). Why cant I sell my bib if I get pregnant (or injured or what-have-you)? I can delay the run till next year, whoopdy-do. I have held back signing up for some races (such as the Disney's) because I dont know if I will be able to run them a year in advance and I dont want to output the money and have no way to get it back.

this. I was training for the Donald 2011 and ended up pregnant. I was not trying to get pregnant (although I am THRILLED I did because I always wanted a third child). anyhow, I knew I wouldn't be ready for the next year if I deferred, so I essentially lost my money. a friend picked up my packet, but it doesn't really do me much good. I just wanted something for my $175 (or whatever it was). I would've gladly transferred my bib, if it had been allowed.

 

[IamTrike]

Because that's their policy. If you are actively trying to get pregnant, don't sign up for the race.

It's good to know the history of the world no one has gotten pregnant when they weren't trying. I can hear the sighs of relief from high school and college dorms across the country. Also as runners we all know the importance of scheduling any injury 8 months in advance.

 

[disEAR]

I agree with your last sentence but that doesn't mean I agree with the policy. It's not exactly a big secret that Joey Fatone ran in his injured wife's place for the 2013 Goofy (he told the story again at Disneyland). Nothing against him but the rather public exception made by runDisney is an eyebrow raiser.

Surprises happen for a wide variety of reasons. Things fail. Infertility suddenly turns around. All of my marathon plans had to be postponed a year because of such a surprise. I'm just glad I didn't even have a chance to register for my races at the time.


Raenstoirm, it can be done if you have someone who has your back 110% My hubs would do backflips for me if it gets me across the finish line. It's harder but not impossible. Galloway's plan is pretty accommodating with the really long runs being every other week or every third week instead of every week. I tried doing a long run every weekend for the Donald and it just wore the both of us out.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

It's good to know the history of the world no one has gotten pregnant when they weren't trying. I can hear the sighs of relief from high school and college dorms across the country. Also as runners we all know the importance of scheduling any injury 8 months in advance.

That wasn't what I was saying. I'm saying it's not runDisney's problem.

 

[IamTrike]

That wasn't what I was saying. I'm saying it's not runDisney's problem.

It may not be their problem, but it's a problem that most other major races address. I'm not advocating that people sell their bibs, but I'm not going to get all judgy on people trying to get some value out of perishable asset. I've never sold a bib and never bought a bib, but using this as an example of what happens anytime you sell a bib seems like a little bit of a fallacy. I'd be willing to bet that thousands of bibs have been sold for different disney races and this is the first time I've heard of anything like this happening. It seems like a stretch then to imply this is what happens anytime someone sells a bib.

 

[FireDancer]

This irritates the crap out of me (the policy, not the people skirting the rules). I am a 30-something female. I could get pregnant at any point and, lets be honest, my running days might be over when that happens (I bow to you mommies that find the time to train for these things Even without children, I am finding it hard to fit in the time for long runs! Cant imagine training with a baby in tow! but anyway.....). Why cant I sell my bib if I get pregnant (or injured or what-have-you)? I can delay the run till next year, whoopdy-do. I have held back signing up for some races (such as the Disney's) because I dont know if I will be able to run them a year in advance and I dont want to output the money and have no way to get it back.

If that happens don't feel bad about selling the bib. RunDisney can go attempt to reproduce with themselves if they don't like it. Yeah, if someone of a different gender or age wins an award they might not get it but they get to run the race and you get some or all of your money back.

On a completely different side note don't feel as though you can't continue to race if you have a kid. At this point more than half of my friends who race just as often as I do have kids. Many of them bring the kids along and they do kids races at local 5k's. I ran with one of them just this past weekend in a half mile kids fun run. As long as you have a supporting spouse it can still be done.

 

[Nole95]

It is pretty dumb that Disney does not have some official bib transfer system in place.

The yearly Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta has something like 60,000 runners, and they have an official transfer system in place for a small fee. My guess is they have a lot less resources than Disney does, yet they manage to pull it off.

Seems to me like Disney is leaving a good amount of money on the table. If someone cannot run for whatever reason and is able to find another person to transfer their bib to, then by all means let them.

These Disney races are so popular that my guess is that finding people to transfer bibs to would never be an issue. Disney could even set a cutoff date where no further transfers were allowed.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

If that happens don't feel bad about selling the bib. RunDisney can go attempt to reproduce with themselves if they don't like it. Yeah, if someone of a different gender or age wins an award they might not get it but they get to run the race and you get some or all of your money back.

On a completely different side note don't feel as though you can't continue to race if you have a kid. At this point more than half of my friends who race just as often as I do have kids. Many of them bring the kids along and they do kids races at local 5k's. I ran with one of them just this past weekend in a half mile kids fun run. As long as you have a supporting spouse it can still be done.

on both points.

I feel like, since having kids, my running has become even more important to me. It's an escape, an outlet, something that I do just for ME, as opposed to everyone else. I sometimes have to take a kid in the jogging stroller, and I sometimes walk a 5K with a baby on my back instead of going for a PR, but for the most part I run by myself (well, with my German Shepherd, who has always been my running buddy) for my own sanity. It means making changes (I now do most of my runs at 9 or 10 at night after the kids have gone to sleep) and sacrifices, but it doesn't need to be all or nothing.