Well, that can't really be mandatory because you might not be staying at a hotel or have rented a car. It makes sense to know where you're staying and who you're with in case anything happens though.

Because it R and R. They are mining data to use for marketing or to sell to other parties. Yet another reason to avoid running that company's races.

Make up some stuff. Be creative

I would think that if this information was really manditory, then they should have asked these questions during the registration process before you handed them your money, not afterwards.

It's really sleezy of them to ask you after the fact. You already paid your registration fee, you already booked your travel plans, your hotel, your car rental. So now they are holding your bib and packet hostage until you agree to give up some personal information that you are not comfortable with giving away.

Is it valuable information? It is to RnR. But they have to compete with all the other local running clubs that sponsor races. Most of these local running clubs already have established relationships with the city where they put the race on. Most of these running clubs do it by real volunteers who make no money or give whatever they make to a charity. RnR does it for profit. They are a company whose main goal is to make money any way they can. They are a big business outsider who are trying to make a case that it is in the best interest of the city to allow them to put on this race or to another city. Maybe it is profitable for a city to allow RnR to put on a race. But you shouldn't sleez ball your way to the participants of the race, and undermine the volunteers who actually work the race just to make a buck. There are so many more well organized races whose goal it is to simply put on a good race and maybe raise some money for a well meaning charity. I think RnR should go bankrupt for their company practices.

If you don't want to give the information out and RnR refuses to give you your bib or money back, then you may want to take it up with the City of San Diego and complain. I am sure San Diego would not have favorable opinions of RnR if they knew how they treated participants, participants that may not want to sign up for the RnR in San Diego next year. Then again, San Diego may not care if RnR can get more people the following year. But it's worth a shot and not much effort to make a phone call or write a letter to embarass this company.

I have run 3 RnR events and they always ask the questions. I never fill it out. It is just for marketing and things like that. It's a fun race. Enjoy!