If you actually wish to upset the operating neighborhood, attempt utilizing social media to brag about operating a faster-than-average tempo with none coaching—in a race you by no means registered for or paid to take part in.
Alexa Curtis, a “private model entrepreneur,” discovered that the arduous approach this Monday, when she posted a prolonged screed about her “fearless” expertise on the NYCRUNS Brooklyn Half Marathon, a sold-out occasion that drew greater than 21,700 official runners. In a since-deleted publish on X, she stated she “didn’t join this race. I simply requested the safety the place it began and the place it ended and jumped in. … The one particular person I relied on to indicate up and cross that end line at this time was myself.”
Fearless, on this case, appears to imply “the foundations don’t apply to me.”
Runners immediately flooded her remark part, calling her out as a “bandit” and a “thief” and dubbing her actions unfair, however Curtis doubled down, saying “life’s not honest.” Later, her publicist stated she “determined very last-minute to take part within the Brooklyn Half” and Curtis posted on X saying “I didn’t notice I might offend so many individuals. … I had no intention to take something from anybody or the race … Sooner or later I’ll make sure to search for the foundations if I determine to run once more.”
What does it imply to bandit a race?
To bandit a race means to run with out registering. Individuals do this by beginning and ending with no bib, shopping for a bib from one other runner, producing counterfeit bibs, or operating in one other particular person’s place to satisfy a qualifying customary. (The registration web page for the NYCRUNS Brooklyn Half Marathon clearly states “you could not run with no bib.”)
Flouting these guidelines is problematic for a lot of causes.
Why race banditing is so unhealthy
Operating—and racing—is extra standard than ever. Common race registrations in 2023 grew by 5.8 p.c in comparison with 2022, inner information from RunSignup indicated (representing an estimated 35 to 40 p.c of the U.S. endurance market). And the variety of marathoners on the health app Strava elevated 20 p.c in 2023, based on the health app’s annual 12 months in Sport report. At this level, operating is too standard for anybody to feign ignorance round fundamental race guidelines.
1. It strains assets
Registration charges could be steep. The NYCRUNS Brooklyn Half, for instance, ranges between $125 and $140; the NYC Marathon prices $255 to $315. However that cash isn’t only for shopping for finisher medals and tees in bulk or making a revenue.
“[Fees] cowl occasion planning, street closures, and public security,” says Randy Accetta, an RRCA-certified race director and founding father of Run Tucson, a company that produces street and path races at scenic Arizona locations.
“At a excessive degree, the biggest value will probably be security and safety, in order that’ll embrace police, barricade corporations, site visitors management, and staffing—the general employees wanted to supply the race from an occasion organizer perspective is large,” says Phil Dumontet, CEO of Brooksee and founding father of Boulderthon, who oversees 10 races, together with the Mesa Marathon, Portland Marathon, and Las Vegas Marathon, which altogether draw about 60,000 contributors per yr. “Insurance coverage, metropolis permits, Porta Potties, timing chips, medical, and on-course hydration are all big-ticket objects, too.”
These are all important parts of a secure racing expertise, and “should you use the roadways and do not register, you are not paying your fair proportion of those varied prices,” says Accetta.
“If you happen to use the roadways and do not register, you are not paying your share of those varied prices.”—Randy Accetta
That’s particularly pertinent as street racing continues to develop as a sport. The London Marathon lately introduced a brand new world document for race purposes: 840,310 individuals utilized to run in 2025, a forty five p.c enhance over the earlier yr. The 2024 race had round 53,000 runners; if the race organizers keep on with that quantity, solely about six p.c of candidates could be accepted. It is getting tougher to get into main street races, which creates frustration (particularly round occasions with lottery purposes). However that’s not a purpose to simply leap in.
2. It isn’t secure
Discipline sizes are capped for a purpose. “Whether or not it’s a 5,000-person race or a 50,000-person race, there’s in the end an affect to the town,” says Dumontet. In consequence, the scale of the roads and the period of time a location can realistically shut these down will decide the capability of the race.
Take a look at a race just like the New York Metropolis Marathon, which sends its first wave of runners off at round 8 a.m. and its final wave round 12 p.m. “Including extra waves will prolong the length of the race, which is not all the time doable from a metropolis’s perspective, and site visitors management, police, safety, medical—everybody would simply be on the market for much longer, which can scale the prices upward,” he explains.
Coping with unaccounted for runners additional stresses the capability of everybody concerned within the race. “The most important factor for me is the security issues,” says Dumontet. “As a race organizer, you’re basing your infrastructure wants off the whole registered contributors, so not having a real sense of what number of runners are on the market might compromise the security of everybody concerned.”
And most races have runners signal legal responsibility waivers in case of accidents or accidents; bandits gained’t have that insurance coverage protection. “So when somebody will get damage and wishes medical care and we do not know who they’re, the general public security equipment turns into confused and isn’t as obtainable to answer those that have registered,” says Accetta.
3. It is gross
There’s one other main issue at play, too: social media. Curtis’ authentic publish and feedback reek of entitlement and willful ignorance, which she tried to stroll again through an announcement from her publicist, who stated that “it was not intentional that she didn’t enroll, moderately she thought it could be a pleasant approach to assist unfold the phrase through her platform in regards to the significance of shifting your physique/figuring out and the mind-body connection in addition to share some good consciousness for the Brooklyn Half.”
A social platform isn’t a free move. “I feel it’s nice that folks with a platform can unfold the phrase in regards to the significance of shifting and the mind-body connection, however I feel it’s egocentric to make use of that as an excuse and irresponsible for an influencer to position mannequin what is basically stealing a service,” says Accetta. “It might have been so a lot better if she’d filmed herself choosing up her packet: ‘Hey all, I am right here at registration and I simply determined to enroll in this race—cannot wait to inform you about it tomorrow…’”
Again in January 2023, one other influencer, the chronically shirtless Matt Choi, was outed by Marathon Investigation, a web site that inspects suspicious race outcomes, for operating below a buddy’s bib in a race with guidelines that clearly forbid bib transfers. In a TikTok apology, he stated he forgot to enroll in the Houston Marathon, and acquired the bib from a buddy who was registered however acquired injured.
“My intent was to not … cheat the system—I actually simply needed to run,” Choi stated. “Operating has fully modified my life and it’s a neighborhood I’m grateful to be part of.”
The operating neighborhood is fantastic—and it deserves respect from those that be a part of it. Like all sports activities, operating is finest when mutual respect is concerned. Nobody is entitled to any race expertise, irrespective of how briskly they’re, what number of followers they’ve, or what their motivations are.
If Curtis was really operating for her psychological well being, she might have run 13.1 miles in actually some other route than that of an official race course for which she didn’t register. If Choi actually simply needed to run, he ought to have executed his analysis (like the opposite 27,000 racers) and registered in time. Banditing exhibits a complete lack of respect for the game, and the runners who take part in it.
“It is a harmful sort of mentality to not take into account the larger image of everybody concerned.”—Phil Dumontet
“The way in which I give it some thought is, what if everybody did this?” says Dumontet. “If everybody thought, ‘It’s simply me leaping into this race,’ however then you’ve 1,000 runners with that very same mentality, it’s totally clear that the affect on all of the assets of the race could be vital. And it is a harmful sort of mentality to not take into account the larger image of everybody concerned.”
It’d be good if races might simply ban bandits, which is mostly what social media requires in these conditions. However that’s simpler stated than executed.
“At an area degree, we might have a tough time managing the duty of banning bandits from a future occasion, we do not have the staffing to observe all race entries or to drag somebody from a race within the midst of an occasion,” says Accetta. Dumontet agrees: “We do not have a coverage in opposition to bandits by way of how that performs out in follow—it is simply so arduous, in that there is not any black record or strategy to stop them from registering for future races.”
And so, for higher or worse, social media has taken on the position of policing those that break the race guidelines. “I feel the neighborhood wants to assist handle this by making it clear that banditing shouldn’t be regular and it is not cool,” says Accetta.
Operating could also be a person sport, however the neighborhood side is a part of what’s driving its surge in reputation—and those that disrespect it would discover that that kind of angle will restrict their success in the long term.
