If you actually wish to upset the working group, attempt utilizing social media to brag about working 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 “personal brand entrepreneur,” discovered that the laborious method 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 sign up for this race. I just asked the security where it started and where it ended and jumped in. … The only person I relied on to show up and cross that finish line today was myself.”
Fearless, on this case, appears to imply “the rules 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 fair.” Later, her publicist stated she “decided very last-minute to participate in the Brooklyn Half” and Curtis posted on X saying “I did not realize I would offend so many people. … I had no intention to take anything from anyone or the race … In the future I’ll be sure to look up the rules if I decide to run again.”
What does it imply to bandit a race?
To bandit a race means to run with out registering. Folks try this by beginning and ending with out a bib, shopping for a bib from one other runner, producing counterfeit bibs, or working 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 may not run without a bib.”)
Flouting these guidelines is problematic for a lot of causes.
Why race banditing is so dangerous
Operating—and racing—is extra in style than ever. Common race registrations in 2023 grew by 5.8 p.c in comparison with 2022, inner knowledge 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, in accordance with the health app’s annual Yr in Sport report. At this level, working is too in style 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] cover event planning, road closures, and public safety,” says Randy Accetta, an RRCA-certified race director and founding father of Run Tucson, a corporation that produces street and path races at scenic Arizona locations.
“At a high level, the largest cost will be safety and security, so that’ll include police, barricade companies, traffic control, and staffing—the overall staff needed to produce the race from an event organizer perspective is huge,” 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 individuals per 12 months. “Insurance, city permits, Porta Potties, timing chips, medical, and on-course hydration are all big-ticket items, too.”
These are all important components of a protected racing expertise, and “if you use the roadways and don’t register, you’re not paying your fair share of these various costs,” says Accetta.
“If you use the roadways and don’t register, you’re not paying your share of these various costs.”—Randy Accetta
That’s particularly pertinent as street racing continues to develop as a sport. The London Marathon not too long ago introduced a brand new world file for race purposes: 840,310 individuals utilized to run in 2025, a forty five p.c enhance over the earlier 12 months. The 2024 race had round 53,000 runners; if the race organizers stick to that quantity, solely about six p.c of candidates can be accepted. It is getting more durable to get into main street races, which creates frustration (particularly round occasions with lottery purposes). However that’s not a motive to only soar in.
2. It is not protected
Area sizes are capped for a motive. “Whether it’s a 5,000-person race or a 50,000-person race, there is ultimately an impact to the city,” 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. “Adding more waves will extend the duration of the race, which isn’t always possible from a city’s perspective, and traffic control, police, security, medical—everyone would just be out there much longer, which will scale the costs upward,” he explains.
Coping with unaccounted for runners additional stresses the capability of everybody concerned within the race. “The biggest thing for me is the safety concerns,” says Dumontet. “As a race organizer, you’re basing your infrastructure needs off the total registered participants, so not having a true sense of how many runners are out there could compromise the safety of everyone involved.”
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 someone gets hurt and needs medical care and we don’t know who they are, the public safety apparatus becomes stressed and is not as available to respond to those who 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 by way of a press release from her publicist, who stated that “it was not intentional that she did not sign up, rather she thought it would be a nice way to help spread the word via her platform about the importance of moving your body/working out and the mind-body connection as well as share some nice awareness for the Brooklyn Half.”
A social platform isn’t a free move. “I think it is great that people with a platform can spread the word about the importance of moving and the mind-body connection, but I think it’s selfish to use that as an excuse and irresponsible for an influencer to role model what is essentially stealing a service,” says Accetta. “It would have been so much better if she’d filmed herself picking up her packet: ‘Hey all, I’m here at registration and I just decided to sign up for this race—can’t wait to tell you about it tomorrow…’”
Again in January 2023, one other influencer, the chronically shirtless Matt Choi, was outed by Marathon Investigation, an internet site that inspects suspicious race outcomes, for working below a buddy’s bib in a race with guidelines that clearly forbid bib transfers. In a TikTok apology, he stated he forgot to join the Houston Marathon, and acquired the bib from a buddy who was registered however acquired injured.
“My intent was not to … cheat the system—I honestly just wanted to run,” Choi stated. “Running has completely changed my life and it’s a community I’m thankful to be a part of.”
The working group is great—and it deserves respect from those that be part of it. Like all sports activities, working is greatest when mutual respect is concerned. Nobody is entitled to any race expertise, regardless of how briskly they’re, what number of followers they’ve, or what their motivations are.
If Curtis was actually working for her psychological well being, she may have run 13.1 miles in actually every other route than that of an official race course for which she didn’t register. If Choi truthfully 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’s a dangerous kind of mentality to not consider the bigger picture of everyone involved.”—Phil Dumontet
“The way I think about it is, what if everyone did this?” says Dumontet. “If everyone thought, ‘It’s just me jumping into this race,’ but then you have 1,000 runners with that same mentality, it’s very clear that the impact on all the resources of the race would be significant. And it’s a dangerous kind of mentality to not consider the bigger picture of everyone involved.”
It’d be good if races may simply ban bandits, which is mostly what social media requires in these conditions. However that’s simpler stated than executed.
“At a local level, we’d have a hard time managing the task of banning bandits from a future event, we don’t have the staffing to monitor all race entries or to pull someone from a race in the midst of an event,” says Accetta. Dumontet agrees: “We don’t have a policy against bandits in terms of how that plays out in practice—it’s just so hard, in that there’s no black list or way to prevent 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 think the community needs to help manage this by making it clear that banditing is not normal and it’s not cool,” says Accetta.
Operating could also be a person sport, however the group side is a part of what’s driving its surge in reputation—and those that disrespect it can discover that that kind of perspective will restrict their success in the long term.
