The costs of staging a race in the UK

Income of circa £5k from 140 or so riders => £35 an entry, which is an absolute steal. A club triathlete wouldn't get out of bed for an event costing less than £50, and up to £100 for a well organised Olympic distance event is generally tolerable.

When my kids were swimming competitively, we'd regularly shell out north of £50 per swimmer for a weekend gala for entry fees.

Are road racers simply too "cheap"? (Or insufficiently numerous? Undersubscribed ladies' entry suggests this.)

The maximum field allowed for our Club's road races is 60. We run 2 over the summer, one a Cat 3/4 and the other a Cat 2/3/4.

I think entry is around £40, but we need 13/14 accredited marshalls, 4 NEG riders, one red flag marshal, and at least 4 drivers (lead cars 1 & 2, assistant Comm, support vehicle), plus ambulance, static first aider and 2 finish line judges. Then add in hiring the event HQ, plus refreshments for the helpers.

We are now always on the verge of cancellation as riders are really slow to enter, and only hit our break even point about a week before the event.

I don't think riders have a clue about what goes into putting on a road race, or the stress caused by risking club funds without the break even number of riders.

I've only run Regional level races and not since the peak of the cycling boom around 2013 or 2014 when I would get a full field within days. However, there's a few obvious cost savings in there e.g. if you hire an event HQ with toilet facilities you shouldn't need any portaloos; numbers and signage should really be a one-off (with occasional small scale replacement) and the first aid costs look quite high but again I haven't done one for 10 years and know first aid cover at running races I've helped with has risen substantially. The prize money seems pretty generous for a National B, prize money seems to be much more of an expectation in cycling than it is in running although the running events that give cash do definitely attract a far better field. The levies are the killer though, it seems ridiculous that a governing body is putting charges in place that help make races unviable. On the plus side at least you no longer have printing and postage costs like when I first organised races. I don't think a £40-50 entry fee is out of kilter with similar sports though.

This nails it: "I don't think riders have a clue about what goes into putting on a road race, or the stress caused by risking club funds without the break even number of riders."

My kids' old swim squad wanted to host a gala for other clubs to raise funds (a common approach in the swim world) but we (I was on the committee) jibbed for years simply because we'd have needed to commit to hiring a competition-standard pool long before we'd realistically receive any entry fees, and there's no guarantee of a full entry list. Some galas are just popular. Others aren't. And new ones on the calendar could go either way.

We did eventually start hosting galas, and though they make money, there's a small army of volunteer parents needed to keep the show on the road. And they don't make a huge amount of money. The Promotor just likes a challenge as much as anything!