The Importance of Race Medals: What They Are and Why They Matter

Close to 2,500 years ago, the Greek messenger Pheidippides created what we regard as the modern-day marathon, running 25-miles from the town of Marathon to Athens. It was a new kind of concept, rewarding the running at the end with his very own race medal. He was running to announce that the Athenian Army had defeated Persian invaders, and as legend has it, he immediately fell over dead after delivering the news from such a demanding race on his body.

Although Pheidippides met a fateful end that day, his valor and race time created the modern day race medal mentality that we know and love today. He invented the concept of being rewarded for his efforts with a running medal, a physical piece of splendor that he could conceivably show people and hang up at home for days after his completed run. Even though many Olympics occurred after that marathon, historians claim that the first modern-day Olympics in 1896 really solidified the worldwide importance of medal distribution at the end of a sporting event.

Today’s Race Medals

Today, we use race medals for a variety of activities, events, races, and competitions. Most specifically for races, medals have become synonymous with victory. They indicate that the runner gave it their all, crossing the finish line ahead of the competition to earn a spot in the top 3. Customized medals carry more meaning than just claiming a victory over the competition and for many, collecting custom medals has become a hobby.

It’s hard to deny the cultural relevance and significations that come with sporting a running medal, and we’re going to look at why these hard, shiny race medals are still so important today:

1.      Visual Significance: Running medals can be hung up at homes, worn around necks on the podium, and physically displayed for others to see. They carry a cold, hard proof that something challenging was completed – completed so well that the competition was beat out for it. With something intangible, it can be hard to describe to another person or family member what was beat out to clinch the award. But, with a medal, there is the tangible proof that the recipient was the victor. As visual creatures ourselves, medals tap into our innate desire to see proof as opposed to just lofty language. For runners today, medals are still that visual proof.

2.      Memory: Going off of medals visual importance, these items carry with them a tremendous amount of memory, reminding us of what we sacrificed to win them. It can be easy to forget about a race or a specific experience if there is nothing left from that experience. Overtime, our memory degrades, filled with so many new memories that hanging onto the old ones can be laborious. With a medal, runners can just take one glance of it hanging in a glass case and be whisked back to the memory, smelling the smells and seeing the sights of a day that may have occurred 4-decades ago. That’s an incredible power an inanimate object can offer individuals today.

3.      Symbolism: Although a medal may just be a curated piece of metal that was created specifically for a winner of a race, it’s a symbolic emblem that carries much more meaning. For a runner, it’s symbolic of the training time put into the race, the amount of miles completed, the blood and sweat, the tears, and the nutrition sacrifices that were pursued to ensure the very best results were real. It’s symbolic of the coaches behind the athlete, the families behind the team, and the time and effort that was dedicated by the recipient. Standing up on the podium with a medal in hand is symbolic of everything that went into that victory.

4.      Legacy: Lastly, a medal is able to carry a legacy long after the race is completed. Medals are even able to carry legacies after the recipient has passed away, creating a memory that is regarded by local groups, family members, and community organizations. For the real special races, winners can be remembered forever by the acquiring of the custom medals that was made specifically for that event. And for the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, they are able to comprehend the depth of an ancestor’s legacy just by looking at that special medal. Medals stand the test of time.

What Makes a Good Race Medal?

Whether it’s soccer medals, running medals, or any type of customized medals, these important awards need to turn heads and signify the importance of their distribution at a certain point in time. So, what makes a good medal?

·       Quality Metal: We use only the finest metal in the melding of our race medals, ensuring that they are total metal quality. From the metal composition, that’s what helps them last forever. We do not use plastic or other types of materials that could decompose over decades.

·         Design: Race medals need to be unique. That’s why our designs are customized for each and every running event we provide for. The most unique medals of our history are sometimes the ones that are remembered the most, which is why we put significant time into the overall design of each medal.

·         Size: Medal sizes are important. Depending the race and its importance, we provide different sized medals, reserving the big ones for the big events. Size matters.

·         Theme: Depending on if the race is a series or part of a nonprofit event, we provide theme options to our running medals to keep them customized and fun to flaunt.

Why Choose Us GS-JJ?

We eat, sleep, and breathe race medal design, development, and upkeep today. We understand the relevance of race medals, and how their prominence dates back to the modern invention of humanity. We know that race medals are just more than their composition; we know they are symbolic of a legacy and memory from the past, carrying stories and information into the future in a way that no other object can. That’s why we offer a variety of custom race medals made with you and your race in mind.

Every Catholic Medals Include:

FREE      design and artwork with unlimited revisions

FREE      full-color proof delivered via email

FREE      Shipping - delivered via FedEx air service

100%     Satisfaction Guarantee for materials and workmanship

FAST Production - ready to ship in 10 days or less