BAA to strictly enforce members to wear full racing kit at all races

I would NEVER join an organization that would want me as one of their members.

heyyo wrote:

Wow, how to address all of the silly things you said....

Thanks for addressing these all in such a mature manner and with a full understanding of the situation.

So not all members live near Marathon Sports was a weak argument, sorry for making that. If I really wanted to I could find the time when I'm in town for practice.

The bigger issue with that is 20% is pathetic. In college I got 60% and still had to have a work study job to pay for my gear. 20% on overly inflated prices shouldn't be boasted as a benefit at all.

The requirement to blindly buy adidas gear doesn't even create a uniform team. We're simply just buying gear to NOT fit in, because the elite athletes have all their extra gear and warmups and then there's a bunch of scabs wearing whatever they found on the clearance rack. They don't even give us the option of purchasing official team gear.

WE'RE NOT ALLOWED TO WEAR NON ADIDAS GEAR. So we can't wear Garmin. Period. Also, adidas just came out with a $400 miCoach Smart Run. So they do compete with Garmin.

$75 is a great price for the benefits, but now we also have to spend hundreds per year staying current on our adidas gear. That's a hidden cost of membership. So far I have spent $340 this year (all discount and clearance prices) to stay in compliance, and that doesn't prepare me for winter running.

The discussion is really focused on "don't join that club" but that's not really the problem. BAA has over 200 members and the roster is close to capacity. Not everyone who could potentially want to join can join. So this affects the current members, some who have been here for decades. I could join a different club, yes. But it defeats the specific reasons I joined BAA, and it sounds like other clubs have similar policies. Now that I'm here, it's like having the rug pulled out from underneath.

tattooman wrote:

There are 228 members.

Right now the only way I find it worth staying on the club with this new setup is if they give me the option of at least getting the team jacket along with the current singlet and shorts.

Anthony

Only 228? I was thinking the club was much larger than this. What is the make up of the club? Is it mostly pretty fast runners or is it a majority of slower runners looking for a social/running opportunity?

Maybe BAA is wanting to trim the slower runners and focus on performance.

If you don't want to follow the club rules, then don't join. That aside, 20% is a BS discount. Most running stores will give you 10-20% for no reason at all. It should be at least 40%. That still gives Adidas a decent profit and boosts their "production rates."

I thought there were strict time requirements for joining the BAA run club and track workouts. I was not aware 38 minute 10k guys were allowed.

Looking at the results from the USATFNE 10k Grand Prix Race (Lone Gull 10k on September 15th) The older dudes run anywhere between 34 minutes to 40 minutes. Good times for old dudes. The younger dudes taper off around 34 minutes, roughly.

What I don't understand and am honestly curious about is what the guys who run between say between high 31s and 34 minutes in the 10K get by being BAA members? I understand the benefit for the low 31s and 30s guys. The BAA is basically the only club in Boston with a solid group of guys who can consistently run that fast and therefore one of the best training options for guys who want to run low 2:20 marathons, low 30 minute or under 10Ks and mid to low 14 minute 5Ks.

For the rest of you who don't get any sponsorship, have to buy your own Adidas gear, and likely receive little to zero attention from the coaches (who are the coaches anyway for the average club runner types?), what's the benefit of being in the BAA? And No, having friends in the club isn't a benefit, because 1) you don't have to be in the club to maintain those friendships and 2) you and your friends are likely in the same boat, and may all be better off finding a new club.

Sounds fair. You don't have to be in the club.

NE Coach wrote:

The BAA is a club that people want to join. If you don't like their policies, then don't join. They won't be mad. If a 38 min. 10K person is upset, do you really think that they'd care? People join BAA because they want to say that they're a member of one of the most well-known and historic clubs in our sport.

Why not make it exclusive? Grow up people. All that they're saying is that if you are associating yourself with their name / history, and are going to their workouts where you get quality coaching that is paid for by the club at facilities that are rented by the club, then you have to go by their rules. Why do people think that this is unfair?

It is not that it is unfair, it is that it is stupid. When someone tells me that I have to wear something I don't want to wear, at my own expense, for no benefit to me, I tell them to take a hike.

The BAA may not care, but that is fine. I don't care either. I figure out the cost/benefit to me and I act accordingly - emotion does not play a role.

In this case, the BAA miscalculated badly, and has irritated a lot of its long-time members, and is seeing a massive push back on this.

The part that sucks is that they signed the Addidas deal without input from members and now have to live with it - even though they now realise it was a bad more.

It is a losing situation for everyone except Addidas, and even Addidas is likely seeing more negative publicity than positive from this mis-step.

well, it's not a losing deal for BAA if they suddenly can pay the coaches and other bills without annoying fund raisers. Maybe that $75 annual fee would be $150 like CPTC if Adidas didn't sponsor the club.

As long as they forbid the use of the word "kit" by their American members, I think that this policy is fine.

ray wrote:

20% is a BS discount. It should be at least 40%.

If you don't like how things work, then find a different sport. You won't be missed.

Perhaps you didn't read the entire post, I know it was only 2 lines long, but that may prove a difficult task for you. I said I didn't have a problem with the requirement.

But hey, what would a LR thread be without somebody being a dick?

BAA members feel entitled to membership on the club. Times have changed, get with it.

I'd be surprised if other local clubs take these whiners on-board anyways, perhaps the BAA is, in fact, their only option after years of smugness.

ray wrote:

Perhaps you didn't read the entire post, I know it was only 2 lines long, but that may prove a difficult task for you. I said I didn't have a problem with the requirement.

But hey, what would a LR thread be without somebody being a dick?

The portion of your post that I quoted is sufficient. You say that 20% isn't enough of a discount and that it should be 40%. I am calling this into question because unless you are a merchant, you have no business demanding a greater discount than what is offered. And I say this to illustrate the frailty and frivolity of your "if you don't like it, don't join the BAA" argument. You and others are too brain-dead to realize that there are people who have been BAA members for 20 or more years who are affected by this. It's not just potential new members. Why you idiots cannot grasp this basic concept is beyond me.

The point is, there ain't nothing special about a 20% discount; MarathonSports drops a 20% coupon into every swag-bag in every road race they sponsor. I've got a handful of them which, by extrapolation, gives me the same discount as BAA members, hence nothing special. That clear enough for ya?

Victor Maitland wrote:

You and others are too brain-dead to realize that there are people who have been BAA members for 20 or more years who are affected by this. It's not just potential new members. Why you idiots cannot grasp this basic concept is beyond me.

Okay, how about if you're a current member and don't like the new terms, find a new club? What's so hard about that?

Clubs change with time. Leadership changes. Why would you continue to run for a club if it doesn't benefit you or you don't agree with the policies? Why would you have blind loyalty to a club?

Heck, you and your buddies can even form your own club. Call it "BAA Sucks" or something.

We get it but we don't see why it matters or at least I don't. Frankly, what you're experiencing comes with the territory of being a member of such a corporate club. Go figure.

We grasp the concept of the policy affecting existing members. We just think that the effect is deserved, i.e. the new policy benefits the few at the expense of the many and justly so.

Why don't you old idiots in the BAA grasp the concept that no one cares about how long you've been in the BAA, about your memories with the club or about your friendships. Going forward, there is absolutely zero loss to you, if you leave the club. Why can't you grasp that? You have literally nothing to lose. No one is going to take away your memories. But yah it will be quite embarrassing for you to leave the smugness of the BAA behind because they wouldn't pay for your shoes.

Go start a new club called the OGBAA or something. Hold parties where you can watch slideshows and hold each other, remembering those magnificent 20 years in the BAA.

You're so upset with the BAA, feel the need to vent on letsrun, but don't have the courage to leave the club after being severely slighted.

I ran for BAA for 4 years in the 90's. I never paid any dues. I got to do the workouts with the team at BU Armory, and compete in the grand prix series of Boston area, for no entry fee. And, if I decided to do the marathon, it cost me nothing, and they provided a private bus that was/is allowed inside Hopkinton, about 500m from the start.

I loved it.

I thought this was put in place after a certain few trail/mountain runners were sporting their trail sponsored boots and the BAA jersey at the same time. Am I wrong?