Today I registered for the Bolder Boulder 10k, Memorial Day weekend. I get a kick out of how many options they give you. Take a look at the registration choices:

Prices through May 11:
$40 T-shirt Package (available in men’s and women’s styles)
$45 Long Sleeve T-shirt Package (available in unisex only)
$50 Adidas Tech T Package (available in men’s and women’s styles)
$55 Crocs Package (available in men’s, women’s and kid’s sizes)
$85 BOLDER Size Package (includes T-shirt, Long Sleeve, Tech T and Crocs)

This is capitalism at work, the company offering the customer a package that best suits their needs. The Bolder Boulder is an expensive race, $40 for a 10k is not cheap, but the support, chip timing, etc. make it a worthwhile investment.

Once again I opted to pay the additional $10 for the Tech Shirt. I have little desire to add another cotton T-shirt to my toggery, so I am willing to pay ten additional dollars for a shirt that I can work out in.

After May 8th, the Bolder Boulder raises the entry fee by $8, and if you wish to register on race day you will have to spring an additional $12, for a race day fee of $60. I appreciate the incentive structure it encourages early registration.

I’d love to see their registration data, the percentage of runners that register within those three date periods. I can’t imagine many runners register on race day for the hefty price of $60, but I imagine some do. I also wonder if the Bolder Boulder will ever reach a point where they will cap the field?

It would be interesting if the Bolder Boulder, or any race for that matter, adopted a dynamic pricing method for race entry. You could structure it in a variety of ways, runners could bid for a race application, some bids would be accepted, and others rejected. Another scenario is the site could offer different prices based on what link drove you to the web site or on how loyal you were to the Bolder Boulder (by how many times you had run it in the past). I’m sure it would create controversy (just google Amazon and dynamic pricing), it’s another one of my crazy economic ideas.

Bolder Boulder Race Review 2007