“FREE” or $5 RACE ENTRY INFORMATION FOR THOSE WHO WIN THEM IN THE FACEBOOK GROUP “Utah Running Guide .com”:
Join our facebook group here: www.facebook.com/groups/UtahRunningGuide
PLEASE RSVP TO THE INVITES TO HELP THIS GROUP AND THE WEBSITE TO BE ABLE TO BE PROVIDED TO YOU!! I need everyone in the group to click “Attending”, “Maybe attending” or “not attending” so that race directors see that these invites are noticed! THANK YOU!
How to redeem your free or $5 entry:
Please do the following within 1 hour of receiving your free entry:
1. Make your payment at www.paypal.com to the account of UtahRunningGuide.com.
2. Call Mary Ann at 801-687-9559 to confirm that you made your payment and ask how to register for the race. If I don’t answer, please leave a message.
6. Call Mary Ann if you have any problems or need her to walk you through any steps.
Thanks to all of you who RSVP for to race invitations I send to the facebook group (“Utah Running Guide .com”)! Some entries go fast, but some race entries don’t even get used for other races, so don’t be discouraged! Keep replying to the messages when you want a free entry if you don’t know if they have been taken yet or not even if it has been a few days since the message was sent.
To see if there are any more free entries for other races in the future, once the message about free race entries has been sent out, you can simply look on www.UtahRunningGuide.com at the race calendar, and find the race listing by month and date. Then look in the far right column and you will see how many free entries I have for that race and how many have been given out so far and how many are remaining, and the names (or initials) of the people who got them. If it is confusing to understand, you can still inquire about them to see if they are still available. It will now cost $5 processing fee to get the race entries, payable to the account on www.paypal.com of “UtahRunningClub@gmail.com.” PLEASE use the free entries if you win them, or let me know ASAP if you can’t participate so someone else can use the entry. I spend a LOT of time working with race directors to get the entries as trades, working to advertise for them with flyers and posters, which cost me money out of my own pocket to print, gas money to distribute them all over the place, and hours putting logos and information about the races on www.UtahRunningGuide.com and the facebook group. If you decide you can’t run the race after all, even if it is late, shoot me a text or an e-mail. The process of redeeming the free entries is not always smooth, and I’m trying to make it easier for both race directors and recipients to get registered for races without confusion and lots of hassle. Each race director has their own method and time line for how and when to get the free entries. I’m trying to get race directors to just accept an e-mail from the participant containing their information that would be on an entry form, which is the easiest method for the participant. Some want you to use their online registration, and enter a code that gives you a free or discounted entry, which is equally easy. The main thing I need to work on is getting the entries out early so that if there are any kinks, like race directors being too busy to check their email the day before, or the race director not being available, or the volunteers not giving you a free entry because they haven’t been informed by the race director to expect you, I can smooth things out for you. If you ever experience difficulty or confusion in trying to use your free entry, please let me know asap. I need to make sure that race directors aren’t making things difficult for you, or giving you the run around, and that I am not doing the same to them. Also, these race entries are supposed to be full and complete and normal entries, meaning that you should get all the benefits and perks that other participants enjoy, including such things as a t-shirt or other swag that everyone else gets, goody bags, race bib, timing, results, drawing entries, medals, prize eligibility, etc. If a race director tells you you have to wait for other participants to get their things before you because you were “free”, let me know. You should be treated equally because the entry isn’t really “free.” It is a trade for my work, time, and money I have spent to get it for you. I’m a bit swamped, to say the least, so I will try my best to get on top of that! That’s why the prices (or amount of free entries required for a trade) for race directors has increased recently, because the work load is overwhelming and more and more race directors are wanting advertising. I’m excited to see the growth because I think this is a mutually benefiting trade for all of us. If you would like to help out, that would be great! I do most of the work myself usually, but if you want a guaranteed “free” entry, all you need to do is ask a race director of your choice to please use my advertising, and if they accept your request, you can have one of the entries/discounts (or a portion of them if there is only 1 entry/discount, ie. a relay that costs $1000, we would need some of it to offer to the club). They need to agree to the prices listed on the bottom of the homepage of www.UtahRunningGuide.com, which is based off of how long they want advertising (if they can’t afford the full month, I can advertise for as short of a period as they want at a pro-rated cost). There are discounts for races close to Utah Running Club and those that give out good prizes. Another way to get them is to come running with Utah Running Club and you will get credit towards free entries and will be offered them before other groups. For the next best chance, join the facebook group “Utah Running Club Contributing Members Only,” which gets the invites after them. To join this group, you can simply attend one practice with Utah Running Club each year, do something to contribute to the club, or pay $10 once each year, which you can mail to me. Thanks for your support of Utah Running Guide .com!