expensive events

jlh
Posts: 263
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2012 12:17 pm

expensive events

Postby jlh » Mon Nov 02, 2015 1:00 am

Anyone else think events are a bit expensive these days? E.g. three dams next year is two hundred bucks, and tour of marg river five hundred. Considering they do not even close the roads and most people are volunteers, are they just using it as cash cow?

People have to realize the economy in WA its pretty bad right now and double digit increases in fees is not justifiable in my opinion.

User avatar
yugyug
Posts: 1826
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2012 10:27 am
Location: Sydney

expensive events

Postby yugyug » Mon Nov 02, 2015 1:21 am

Well I was pleased to discover that the Newcastle overnight ride from Sydney at the end of the month costs 10 dollars. I'm done paying for expensive mass rides.

dmwill
Posts: 587
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2011 1:13 am
Location: Perth, NOR

Re: expensive events

Postby dmwill » Mon Nov 02, 2015 4:06 am

Even the minor events are not cheap now.

As OP said, some companies are still stuck in "the boom" mode, thinking they can charge a premium (traffic management crowds come to mind immediately).

r2160
Posts: 1192
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:01 pm
Location: Bass Hill, NSW

Re: expensive events

Postby r2160 » Mon Nov 02, 2015 9:12 am

the three peaks rides are $300. Given that there are 1800 riders, I ask myself "does it really cost $540000 to run this event . . ."
-----------
"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever" Lance Armstrong

just4tehhalibut
Posts: 1152
Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:02 am
Location: Spearwood, WA

Re: expensive events

Postby just4tehhalibut » Mon Nov 02, 2015 12:48 pm

There's always Audax and the CTA if you want cheaper rides.
Perhaps someone from the Cyclo Sportif organisation (aka BWA) can chime in with how their fees are used?

lobstermash
Posts: 1426
Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2013 8:51 pm
Location: Canberra

Re: expensive events

Postby lobstermash » Mon Nov 02, 2015 1:01 pm

I reckon Pedal Power's events (Canberra) are pretty keen value for money. They heavily use volunteers to help run the events though, which is great but probably not possible for some organisations to pull off.
Image

User avatar
Tornado
Posts: 479
Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:25 am
Location: Mandurah WA

Re: expensive events

Postby Tornado » Mon Nov 02, 2015 1:38 pm

The costs are getting a bit ridiculous. I do very few "paid for rides" now.
Image

2015 Specialized Tarmac
2012 Avanti Giro3

Jugga-Naught
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:58 am

Re: expensive events

Postby Jugga-Naught » Tue Nov 03, 2015 11:10 am

The Tour of Gracetown this weekend , so many have paid up , will see how many turn up.
The Dams are good fun , just getting silly with the price.

User avatar
Tornado
Posts: 479
Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:25 am
Location: Mandurah WA

Re: expensive events

Postby Tornado » Tue Nov 03, 2015 1:03 pm

I'm doing G Town with a small group.
Image

2015 Specialized Tarmac
2012 Avanti Giro3

User avatar
HappyHumber
Posts: 5072
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:48 pm
Location: Perth, (S.o.R.) W.A.

Re: expensive events

Postby HappyHumber » Tue Nov 03, 2015 1:26 pm

Get frugal AND self sufficient... go Audax ;)
--
Hit me up via the BNA dm; I'll get an alert. If y'know, you know.

User avatar
boyracer
Posts: 793
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:29 pm

Re: expensive events

Postby boyracer » Tue Nov 03, 2015 7:07 pm

become a volunteer support rider? usually a perk or two just for riding the course and helping as you see problems on the road...usually flats/sticky brakes/ gear changing issues.

User avatar
flashpixx
Posts: 746
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2012 7:04 pm
Location: Maylands WA

Re: expensive events

Postby flashpixx » Wed Nov 04, 2015 11:22 am

mmm

I've done RTCC, MS Ride, doing TdG this weekend and working at ToMR, doing Jacaranda ride. Jacaranda ride is 40km and costs $25 I think.

Contemplating DAMS, I'm a BWA member so a little cheaper.

I've no idea of the costs incurred by organisers but if insurance is one of them, that is very expensive, and getting more so each year :shock:
Gordon

Riding: Trek Domane SLR 7

User avatar
Thoglette
Posts: 6605
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:01 pm

Re: expensive events

Postby Thoglette » Fri Nov 06, 2015 3:31 am

r2160 wrote:the three peaks rides are $300. Given that there are 1800 riders, I ask myself "does it really cost $540000 to run this event . . ."
May be not. But if the organisation has staff (CEO,CFO, reception, communications officer etc) and premises they need to find salaries and rent.

They're then big enough to sue, so need insurance. And as well as the premiums the insurers will want "best practice" in traffic management, ambulnace/first aid presence etc. etc.

All of which has to be paid for, before even thinking about "putting the event on'". And if your event is that big, you'll be running up some marketing expenses to ensure that the punters turn up in droves.

You and your mates can do "the three peaks" tomorrow,for nix. But it won't be THE three peaks. And if anything goes wrong, it's up to you to solve it. That's what you're paying for.
Stop handing them the stick! - Dave Moulton
"People are worthy of respect, ideas are not." Peter Ellerton, UQ

Parker
Posts: 1687
Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 6:25 pm

Re: expensive events

Postby Parker » Thu Dec 17, 2015 5:19 pm

I wouldn't be paying for any of the cycle sportifs... gosh they're boring. Around and around they go. Three damns is small/short enough that you can do it any day of the week. Five damns I might pay for.

MCHammer
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2015 1:31 pm
Location: Perth, WA

Re: expensive events

Postby MCHammer » Thu Dec 17, 2015 6:50 pm

In WA some events have become stupidly expensive, as mentioned above $200 for 5 Dams. I always wonder what you get for your $200. I have to agree with Parker that 3 Dams is easily done on your own or in a small group, as there are enough places to get water, drinks, food along the way.

In contrast West Coast Masters charges $20 per race and $145 for annual membership with AVCC which includes race insurance. Well organised, traffic control and prize money. Road races in winter and once a month in Crit season, Crit races in summer and nearly every weekend.
ATTA is another club that offers great , well organised time trial events at a reasonable price.

I suppose it's a matter of choosing which events to ride, and while riders flock to the expensive events organisers will continue to increase entry fees.

User avatar
rolandp
Posts: 2316
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:47 am
Location: Hillarys - Perth, WA

Re: expensive events

Postby rolandp » Fri Dec 18, 2015 12:15 am

r2160 wrote:the three peaks rides are $300. Given that there are 1800 riders, I ask myself "does it really cost $540000 to run this event . . ."
BWA's Annual Report for 2014 only reports event income of $473k, compare to $362k in 2013. Events cost for 2014 was $335k compared to $228k in 2013.

BWA's profit for 2014 was $26k compared to $45k in 2013.

User avatar
rusty842
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:49 pm

Re: expensive events

Postby rusty842 » Fri Dec 18, 2015 12:37 am

rolandp wrote:
r2160 wrote:the three peaks rides are $300. Given that there are 1800 riders, I ask myself "does it really cost $540000 to run this event . . ."
BWA's Annual Report for 2014 only reports event income of $473k, compare to $362k in 2013. Events cost for 2014 was $335k compared to $228k in 2013.

BWA's profit for 2014 was $26k compared to $45k in 2013.
The report looks fine. 10k up in advertising. 100k up in event expenses with event income in similar amounts

The only thing from an outside person would be breakdowns of these incomes (is it pure volume) and expenses ( insurances, road traffic control).

A proportion of the expenses will always be linked to the extra riders however there are many sunk costs. Setting up traffic management would cost the same for 100 as would for 200 riders. There should be some efficiencies coming through soon.

diventare
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Jan 08, 2011 10:41 am

Re: expensive events

Postby diventare » Sat Dec 19, 2015 9:55 pm

Tornado wrote:The costs are getting a bit ridiculous. I do very few "paid for rides" now.
+1 and I did lots.
Image

User avatar
HappyHumber
Posts: 5072
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:48 pm
Location: Perth, (S.o.R.) W.A.

Re: expensive events

Postby HappyHumber » Sat Dec 19, 2015 11:07 pm

Attendance has got to peak at some point, if it hasn't already
--
Hit me up via the BNA dm; I'll get an alert. If y'know, you know.

User avatar
hiflange
Posts: 1938
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 9:27 pm
Location: Perth
Contact:

Re: expensive events

Postby hiflange » Sun Dec 20, 2015 12:10 am

Is insurance more expensive for competitive events? Certainly the timing technology is. If you're not focussed on beating other people Audax is well worth a look; scenic, challenging routes at a very low cost. Plus you get 24/7 insurance.

User avatar
Thoglette
Posts: 6605
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:01 pm

Re: expensive events

Postby Thoglette » Sun Dec 20, 2015 10:29 am

rusty842 wrote:The only thing from an outside person would be breakdowns of these incomes (is it pure volume) and expenses ( insurances, road traffic control).
Probably "secret sauce". At least they're honest enough to keep salaries out of the event costs. However I presume that there is some labour component to the event costs
Stop handing them the stick! - Dave Moulton
"People are worthy of respect, ideas are not." Peter Ellerton, UQ

User avatar
rusty842
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:49 pm

Re: expensive events

Postby rusty842 » Sun Dec 20, 2015 10:37 am

Thoglette wrote:
rusty842 wrote:The only thing from an outside person would be breakdowns of these incomes (is it pure volume) and expenses ( insurances, road traffic control).
Probably "secret sauce". At least they're honest enough to keep salaries out of the event costs. However I presume that there is some labour component to the event costs
This is true and yes they should pay for certain labour costs. That's our world.

As you mentioned these financials don't share anything.

User avatar
HappyHumber
Posts: 5072
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:48 pm
Location: Perth, (S.o.R.) W.A.

Re: expensive events

Postby HappyHumber » Sun Dec 20, 2015 5:33 pm

RobertFrith wrote:Is insurance more expensive for competitive events? Certainly the timing technology is. If you're not focussed on beating other people Audax is well worth a look; scenic, challenging routes at a very low cost. Plus you get 24/7 insurance.

My only experience with Audax is in WA; so comparing to the Eastern States might be hard...

I don't know why more people don't give it a go. Part of me believes this this is due to calendar restrictions. The calendar is a classic case of trying to keep everyone happy though; what with varying ride lengths, qualification rides for upcoming bigger events and clashes with everything else going on in busy modern lives.

It can attract many people with a broad range of fitness and endurance. Depending on the turnout for any given ride, this kind of dictates more often than not how 'social' a ride can be. Similar ability and speed riders do tend to stick together. I know criticism I've heard in the past (locally) was that newcomers were left to complete things alone and not really sheparded or encouraged into the norms of the riding. The comment was "Why pay $16* for a ride they could've done themselves for free?"

I think some sort of rethinking for the Populaire rides of sub 200 K is really in order to improve retention rates.


* temporary, non-member entrance fee. Rides are $6 for Audax/CA members
--
Hit me up via the BNA dm; I'll get an alert. If y'know, you know.

User avatar
ColinOldnCranky
Posts: 6734
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:58 pm

Re: expensive events

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Mon Dec 21, 2015 10:00 pm

I have no great affection or otherwise for events organisers. I just suck it up and pay for the rides that I choose to ride in appreciate that at least I get the chance.

I'm guessing that most posters on this forum are not having to ride bargain basement bikes and typically ride one or more that are in excess of $1500, $300 dollar sunnies just for the twice weekly ride, over priced gloves that are functionally identical to cheapies from k-mart and a lot more.

So while I see a social virtue in keeping prices down for all those others that ride more "affordable" bikes, and probably not often enough, by and large I think maybe there is a touch of entitlement here that is a little ironic.
Unchain yourself-Ride a unicycle

User avatar
flashpixx
Posts: 746
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2012 7:04 pm
Location: Maylands WA

Re: expensive events

Postby flashpixx » Mon Dec 21, 2015 11:55 pm

ColinOldnCranky wrote:I have no great affection or otherwise for events organisers. I just suck it up and pay for the rides that I choose to ride in appreciate that at least I get the chance.

I'm guessing that most posters on this forum are not having to ride bargain basement bikes and typically ride one or more that are in excess of $1500, $300 dollar sunnies just for the twice weekly ride, over priced gloves that are functionally identical to cheapies from k-mart and a lot more.

So while I see a social virtue in keeping prices down for all those others that ride more "affordable" bikes, and probably not often enough, by and large I think maybe there is a touch of entitlement here that is a little ironic.
+1
Gordon

Riding: Trek Domane SLR 7

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users