Don’t take the schwag.
Don’t use the water or food.
Don’t use the porta-potties.
Don’t take a medal.

Be friendly and get out of the way of the paid racers, this is only fair.

When I first started running, clubs put on events for the love and joy of the sport and money was only there to offset expenses.

Now, people have turned running into a big, moneymaking thing.

I ask one thing of my fellow runners:

Must we charge a price for EVERYTHING? Is this REALLY the kind of world you want to live in?

Your argument is invalid. We all train for races on trails or road. If we don’t wear ID while training then it would be the same as if we didn’t wear ID while banditing. The only difference is somebody would find us rapidly if collapsed in a race. Even if we couldn’t be identified, we would be located quickly if knocked unconscious for some reason. Banditing a race is safer than running alone regardless if someone knows who we are. If we hit our head on a stump in a trail training run, it is possible nobody would know where to find us… period.

Although to be fair, I’d say it is also unethical to call someone “thief” merely because they violated your internal moral and religious convictions, without regard for the law — you attempt to play verbal lynch mob, deforming the law to conform to your internal beliefs and desires. This is not how we want our law system to work.

Does this really meet the common law understandings of theft, or larceny, or burglary? Hardly, I would suggest.

It might come closer to qualifying for fraud, except there is still no permanent deprival of property.

I think you’d really be a lot more sensible to try to claim criminal conversion, no?

Think those porta-potties are free? Think someone just donates them for the day? No. How about the trucks that haul them there and then haul them off to be emptied? Where I live the local sanitation plant takes porta-potty contents for a fee, and they don’t waive that fee for event waste. The guys who drive sanitation trucks work hard to make a living wage. Their services are rented, along with the plywood tables at registration, the nice canopy tents that shield you from the heat or rain at the expo, and the very grounds on which the expo is held. Really, do you think all of this is free? Think again.

Putting on an event is an expensive proposition. Most do it for some charity so they hope there is money left over to give to said charity, too. Oftentimes they fail, are unable to give anything to the charity, and go bankrupt themselves.

Then there’s the logistical aspects of a certain number of people. Races are capped for a reason. That means this venue can handle this many people on the course, estimating that they drive this many cars and so need this many parking spaces. They will probably have this many people coming to spectate so they need this many porta-potties in addition to those needed by the racers. The course itself can handle this many runners. More people on hand than anticipated and you get congestion, cars backed up, race start delays, long lines, runners tripping over other runners, and overall a bad day.

Next time you think about running bandit, I suggest you offer to volunteer in some aspect of race directing or event planning first. If you are a rational human being you’ll never say, “but I didn’t take the t-shirt” as justification for your actions again. You’ll see just what that race entry fee is used for, and you’ll feel like the leech you are for ever running bandit in the past. To assuage that guilt, I suggest donating generously to a worthy charity. Then pay your fair share at all events going forward.

That said, I did ride my bicycle along a race course once. (Well, more than once, but one time I was not a race official.)

A lot of people don’t consider this banditing. But many others do. Thoughts on the legality of this?

Jeff (Middle Professor)

Regardless, I think banditing is pretty unethical.

Naively (maybe) I didn’t think it was possible to “bandit” a race… Does a ” race bandit” run without a bib number?

People who are too cheap and/or broke to pay for services or wares have used this sort if inaccurate reasoning to justify a lot of illegal and immoral activities over time. The restaurant scenario of “not tipping because I can’t afford it” has always angered me. If a person cannot afford to tip, then they cannot afford to eat out. The same holds true for races. If one cannot afford to race, then they need to run for fitness and enjoyment and not partake in competition. Lack of funds is never a valid reason for taking advantage of race organizers or other runners.