Is This Early Registration Just TOO Early?

Early Registrations

I understand the whole early registration process – give people a chance to save some money by locking in their plans for an event long before the event occurs. There is a certain amount of reward in that for organizers as it allows them to collect the money early to begin their planning/purchasing phase, but they are bringing in a little less than they would at full price.

But, that is okay because early registrants can never guarantee that they are going to be able to attend some event that is the greater part of a year away, so that becomes extra money in the organizers’ account. Really, the only one taking a risk is the participant – paying now to save money but taking the chance that nothing will come up to prevent their participation.

Marathon Early Registrations

When it comes to marathons, early registrations are normally not that big of a deal. Why? Because if the early registration date is about 7 months before the actual race, that is really only about 2-2 1/2 months away from the start of the training program for that race. So, it is not some distance race, but is something that you will actually begin putting real time into shortly thereafter. And the early registration prices can be great! I have seen some as low as $10 (down from $100), so it makes it a no-brainer to sign up when they are that low. Typically, they may be about 30-40% cheaper than the full registration amount.

What Is Too Early?

But, how early is too early? Do you think 7 years is a little too early? 🙂 That’s right – there is a marathon that has opened registration for their event that will take place 7 years from now!

The race is the Göteborgsvarvet Marathon and is set to take place September 19, 2021. The registration for that race opened this past February and will close February 26, 2015. The entry cost works out to around $145 and there is no early registration discount! If you sign-up now and need to change it to someone else down the road, you have until June 30, 2021 and will cost you $36 to do so.

This marathon is a one-time deal. It is to celebrate the 400 year anniversary of the city of Göteborg, Sweden. In light of the 400 years, I guess 7 years is not too long of a time. 🙂 It should be interesting to see if they fill the race or not, especially since they are leaving half of the 15,000 spaces for only international runners.

To put this span of time in perspective, here are some fun facts:

• 7 years is the span of time between the selection of an Olympic host city and the actual Olympics
• Between now and the Göteborg Marathon, the US could see three separate presidents
• By the time of the marathon, the average 2012 first round NFL draft pick will not longer be playing football
• 7 years is almost the length of time that I have actually been running marathons 🙂
• A 10 year-old could sign-up to run this marathon and be the allowable age by the start date

This is definitely the earliest registration I have ever seen. If this race sounds at all interesting to you, go here to explore and sign-up. One good thing going for this race is that this city actually plays host every year to one of the largest races in the world (over 60,000 people in the half-marathon).