Race Medals

In 1897, the Boston Athletic Association, then only ten years old, decided to organize the first ever Boston Marathon, thus giving birth to the longest continuously running marathon in the world. Of the 15 people who took part in the race, ten finished. And to commemorate the achievement of its members in that inaugural Boston Marathon, all ten finishers came away with a medal, thus giving birth to one of the most enduring traditions in mass participation sports: the finisher medal.

So, what makes a great medal? How should you choose a medal that works best for your race’s theme and budget? What kinds of things should you look out for in designing your medal and managing those all-important order quantities and delivery timelines? And how can you use your most important race bling to attract new participants to your event?

That’s what we’re discussing today with my guests, mother and daughter, Kim and Morgan Ashworth of veteran medal suppliers’ Ashworth Awards. Now in its third generation, Ashworth Awards has been the go-to medal supplier for some of the greatest races in the United States for over 60 years. And with Kim and Morgan’s help we’ll explore every aspect of race medals, from production and design to order management and - seeing as the world’s heading that way - the effect tariffs may already be having on the price and availability of that all important finisher bling. 

In this episode:

• Pros, cons and costs of different types of medals: die-cast, stamped, acrylic, wooden medals.
• Medal platings and colours
• How race medals are produced
• The popularity and versatility of utility medals
• Made in the USA dimensional steel medals
• The effect of tariffs on medal imports and costs
• Working with a vendor to design your race medal
• Obtaining samples before a production run
• Managing order quantities and lead times
• Tips for reusing and recycling leftover medals
• Pros and cons of ordering through a vendor vs ordering directly from an overseas manufacturer
• Using your medal in your race marketing
• Offering personalized medals

Many thanks to our podcast sponsors, RunSignup and Brooksee, for supporting our efforts to provide great, free content to the race director community:

RunSignup are the leading all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events. More than 28,000 events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. Find out more at https://runsignup.com/.

Brooksee are the timing technology industry-leader, bringing affordable real-time tracking and timing checkpoints to races with their patented iPhone-sized micro checkpoints. Find out more and get 50% off your timing for your next event at https://www.brooksee.com/headstart.