I think the term ‘goody bag’ is a bit of a stretch at the
London Marathon. You get two, one at the expo pre race, and one after you
finish and you’ve picked up the bag you put in storage at the start.
The pre race one is a jumble of cereal bars, nuts and
leaflets for stuff you’re unlikely to use or need at any point in your life. This
year, the only thing I kept for myself was a bag of nuts – the rest either went
in the bin, the recycling or was donated to my Beloved (voucher for a free pint
– well, he does deserve a treat for coming to watch me). But nothing that
really captures the distance running market. I can’t believe that companies out
there are not more interested to reach 35000 people with their fitness-related
products.
The post race goody bag verges slightly on the insult, it’s such
a diverse collection of items. There’s the random freebies - this year, a sachet
for cheesy chicken and bacon pasta bake, a single prune (!?!) and some chewing
gum. Then there are the useful ones - you get a bottle of Lucozade and of
water, as well as sachets of Jointace and Biofreeze. These are incredibly
successful, as since my free sachet of Jointace after last year’s marathon, I’ve
become a regular customer. 10/10 for marketing there, chaps.
You also got an apple and another cereal bar, which I am
sure are very welcome for a lot of people, but the last thing I want after 26.2
miles of sugary gels and over 4 hours of sweating is more sugar, so I tend to
ignore or ditch these. After I ran scorching Berlin in 2011, I nearly cried
when they gave me a bag of fruit after the race, when I would have gladly sold
my medal for a bag of salty pretzels. I always pack myself a bag of ready
salted crisps in my own bag, so I can get some salt back in my system quickly.
You do get a salty snack in the London goody bag – a packet
of pistachios. With their shells on. Personally, I think anyone that can summon
up the strength to shell pistachios after running 26.2 miles deserves an extra
medal. Or a t-shirt that fits them.
Yes, the London marathon t-shirt. One size only, extra
large, thick cotton – who exactly does this fit? Not that many of the runners on
Sunday, that’s for sure. The organisation for London is so good at the start
and the finish, I really don’t think it can be beyond their wit and their
budget to print t-shirts in smaller sizes. The Great North Run manage it,
although these are still not ideal, because again they are thick cotton and
therefore not suitable for sport. I’d love a race t-shirt that I can wear for
training or racing. Is it just a feature of major British races that we can’t
make technical t-shirts for finishers, in a size that might actually fit them?
As a size 10 woman (and I assume there are plenty of them and smaller who
regularly run races in the UK), I have only ever got a technical race t-shirt
that fits me from New York races, and I wear them loads.
But even something that fits me is better than nothing. I
have had small cotton t-shirts from smaller British races and to be honest,
Virgin, I think if St Albans Half marathon can give me a t-shirt that fits me
for under £30 entry fee, I think you can too.
Maybe t-shirts aren’t the best memento. Medals are great,
obviously (although I do also think Virgin & London cop out with this as
they are essentially the same every year, only the year and the back of the
medal change) but other useful and brilliant mementos that fit everybody are
bags. I’ve had some great bags from cycling races and more recently the
Maidenhead 10 mile race, and I use these all the time, therefore advertising
the event to others. And of course, the best race memento ever is the
commemorative beer glass (West4 Harriers, take a bow) but obviously this isn’t
practical for the marathon.
Another disappointment was that Timex didn’t do the fridge
magnet freebie this year (or at least I didn’t get one). This was a brilliant
memento last year, and is definitely the best race freebie there is, so disappointing
that a major race sponsor couldn’t stretch to this promotional tool again in 2013.
Price is a factor, I know. For a World Major, London is very
cheap to enter in the ballot. But the vast majority of people pay a lot more
for golden bond place and then raise a fortune for charity. They are not all
men who wear extra large sizes. Wouldn’t it be nice to reward them with a race
memento that they can sport with pride, all year round, rather than one that
they can only wear to bed?
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