If you actually need 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 “private model entrepreneur,” discovered that the laborious means 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 submit 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 point out up and cross that end line as we speak 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 be sure you lookup 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 try this by beginning and ending with no bib, shopping for a bib from one other runner, producing counterfeit bibs, or working in one other particular person’s place to fulfill a qualifying commonplace. (The registration web page for the NYCRUNS Brooklyn Half Marathon clearly states “you might not run with no bib.”)
Flouting these guidelines is problematic for numerous causes.
Why race banditing is so unhealthy
Working—and racing—is extra in style than ever. Common race registrations in 2023 grew by 5.8 % in comparison with 2022, inside information from RunSignup indicated (representing an estimated 35 to 40 % of the U.S. endurance market). And the variety of marathoners on the health app Strava elevated 20 % in 2023, in response to the health app’s annual 12 months in Sport report. At this level, working is too in style for anybody to feign ignorance round fundamental race guidelines.
1. It strains sources
Registration charges will 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, highway closures, and public security,” says Randy Accetta, an RRCA-certified race director and founding father of Run Tucson, a company that produces highway and path races at scenic Arizona locations.
“At a excessive degree, the most important price shall 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 big,” 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 12 months. “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 protected racing expertise, and “in the event you use the roadways and do not register, you are not paying your fair proportion of those numerous prices,” says Accetta.
“For those who use the roadways and do not register, you are not paying your share of those numerous prices.”—Randy Accetta
That’s particularly pertinent as highway racing continues to develop as a sport. The London Marathon lately introduced a brand new world report for race purposes: 840,310 folks utilized to run in 2025, a forty five % enhance over the earlier 12 months. The 2024 race had round 53,000 runners; if the race organizers keep on with that quantity, solely about six % of candidates could be accepted. It is getting more durable to get into main highway races, which creates frustration (particularly round occasions with lottery purposes). However that’s not a purpose to simply bounce in.
2. It is not protected
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 finally an influence to the town,” says Dumontet. In consequence, the dimensions 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 lengthen the length of the race, which is not all the time potential 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 largest factor for me is the security issues,” says Dumontet. “As a race organizer, you’re basing your infrastructure wants off the full 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 received’t have that insurance coverage protection. “So when somebody will get harm and desires medical care and we do not know who they’re, the general public security equipment turns into pressured and isn’t as out there to reply to those that have registered,” says Accetta.
3. It is gross
There’s one other main issue at play, too: social media. Curtis’ unique submit and feedback reek of entitlement and willful ignorance, which she tried to stroll again through a press release from her publicist, who stated that “it was not intentional that she didn’t join, reasonably she thought it will be a pleasant means to assist unfold the phrase through her platform in regards to the significance of transferring your physique/understanding and the mind-body connection in addition to share some good consciousness for the Brooklyn Half.”
A social platform isn’t a free cross. “I believe it’s nice that folks with a platform can unfold the phrase in regards to the significance of transferring and the mind-body connection, however I believe it’s egocentric to make use of that as an excuse and irresponsible for an influencer to function 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 join 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 working underneath 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 obtained the bib from a buddy who was registered however obtained injured.
“My intent was to not … cheat the system—I actually simply wished to run,” Choi stated. “Working has utterly modified my life and it’s a group I’m grateful to be part of.”
The working group is great—and it deserves respect from those that be a part of it. Like all sports activities, working is finest 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 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 wished to run, he ought to have finished his analysis (like the opposite 27,000 racers) and registered in time. Banditing reveals a complete lack of respect for the game, and the runners who take part in it.
“It is a harmful form of mentality to not think about the larger image of everybody concerned.”—Phil Dumontet
“The best way 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 may have 1,000 runners with that very same mentality, it’s extremely clear that the influence on all of the sources of the race could be important. And it is a harmful form of mentality to not think about the larger image of everybody concerned.”
It’d be good if races might simply ban bandits, which is usually what social media requires in these conditions. However that’s simpler stated than finished.
“At a neighborhood degree, we might have a tough time managing the duty of banning bandits from a future occasion, we do not have the staffing to watch 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 laborious, in that there isn’t any black listing or option to forestall them from registering for future races.”
And so, for higher or worse, social media has taken on the function of policing those that break the race guidelines. “I believe the group wants to assist handle this by making it clear that banditing isn’t regular and it is not cool,” says Accetta.
Working could also be a person sport, however the group side is a part of what’s driving its surge in reputation—and people who disrespect it’s going to discover that that kind of angle will restrict their success in the long term.
