How to Create a Budget for Ragnar Trail

So you’re ready to escape normal for a weekend. Well, almost. Hanging out in the woods, running miles and miles of trails, making s’mores and camping all sounds awesome to you but how do you make an idea a reality? One of the first steps is creating a budget. Here is a breakdown of how to create one for a Ragnar Trail so you can focus on where your Ragnar tattoo will look the best.
There are 8 things you’ll need:

  1. Registration
  2. Food
  3. Camping Supplies
  4. Headlamps
  5. Costumes & Fun Stuff
  6. Volunteer
  7. Thursday/ Saturday night lodging (optional)
  8. Travel

Registration ($1,120-$1,320/team or $140-$165/person)
Planning ahead will help you save. Register during early registration (or VIP if you’re a repeat runner) for the lowest prices. Price Increases are listed in the Trail Guide for each race. The team captain is in charge of paying the upfront cost and can gather money from their team members before they register or after the race. Have your team download an app like Venmo, Square Cash and PayPal to make transferring money easier, you’ll still have to do the math though.
How to plan ahead to afford all the must do Ragnar Trails
Food ($160-$300/team or $20-$40/ person)
Get ready to eat the most you ever have. All runners will receive a catered dinner (with vegetarian options) on Friday night and free samples and other partner goodies as part of your registration. We will provide runners with delicious Allegro coffee on Friday night into Saturday morning. Plus, we’ll provide all the ingredients to fuel your runners high on Friday night into Saturday morning- chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows! It’s a good idea to bring some snacks, breakfast and lunch food for the rest of your run-cation. Check out the Ultimate Packing Guide for good food to stash in your tent. (Hint: The list definitely includes PB&Js). Post-race, be sure to check out the local flavor near by. Then order the biggest plate on the menu. It’s well deserved.

Camping Supplies (Depends on what you have)
Whether you’re a group of seasoned backpackers or beginner campers, it’s always good to make a checklist or Google Doc of all the materials your team has to make sure you don’t end up with 9 tents and zero stoves. Remember to bring your reusable mugs, plates, silverware and water bottles to help this be a leave no trace event!
Ragnar tent life
Headlamps ($20-$100/ per person)
It’s important to see while your jumping over rocks in the middle of the night or simply walking from the campfire to your tent. Get a headlight or flashlight from Nathan before your night time leg. The Nathan Nebula Fire and Halo Fire are headlights designed specifically for running and the Nathan Zephyr Fires are wearable flashlights that fit comfortably in your hand. Visit RagnarGear.com to get deals on all the gear you need to light up the night.

Costumes and Tent Decorations ($0-$560)
You can frolic through the woods or you can frolic through the woods dressed as a superhero. Costumes and matching shirts can take your Ragnar game to the next level and you can get them by digging through your closet to find old halloween costumes, going to your local thrift store or fabric store for a DIY project or getting a full outfit from a costume store. Then in your new themed costumes, stake your ground by decorating your tent and team area. Bring banners, Christmas lights, props, ribbons and lots of color.

Volunteer ($0 or $120)
For Ragnar Trail Relays, one volunteer per team is required. If you have a friend that wants to get in on all of the fun of camping, s’mores and cheering, but won’t run even if they’re getting chased by a bear, bring them along as your team volunteer! If you don’t bring along a volunteer, shifts will be three hours long, so runners can fulfill a volunteer shift between running their legs. The volunteer duties include things like helping at the Transition Tent, making sure water is stocked along the course, and helping with parking. If no one of your team is able to volunteer, rest assure that the $120 you pay to fulfill the volunteer requirement will go towards a local community or charity group. For more information, click here.

Thursday/ Saturday Night Lodging (optional)
Visit the “Plan Your Trip” page to see when camping is available at the race venue. Plan a weekend getaway by booking a hotel or campsite nearby. (Just make sure they have showers if you’re planning on staying there post-race.)

Travel (varies)
We’ve got several bucket list races that are worth traveling to. Whether you’re flying or planning an epic road trip, make sure to account for the price of gas, flights, and rental cars.

While the price typically varies, it tends to come out to be $150-$200ish per person for the bare essentials, aka registration and food. On top of that, it is what you make of it, but we highly suggest costumes. Here is what you can tell your teammates to expect:

  1. Registration- Around $150/ person (Remember to sign up early to save!)
  2. Food- Around $30/ person
  3. Camping Supplies- Around $20/person if you already have tents
  4. Headlamps (optional)
  5. Costumes & Fun Stuff- Around $20/ person
  6. Volunteer (optional pay for volunteers $15/person)
  7. Thursday/ Saturday night lodging (optional)
  8. Travel (optional)

On average, local team members can expect to pay around $220/ person for two days of camping, campfires, s’mores, backwoods meals and pure running joy. Tell us how you help your team budget!

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