Chicago Marathon Prize money

There are time bonus'. They are all listed on their website.

Open Division (Men / Women)

1st Place $125,000

2nd Place $65,000

3rd Place $40,000

4th Place $25,000

5th Place $15,000

$270,000

American Development Bonus (M / W)

1st Place $4,500

2nd Place $3,500

3rd Place $2,500

4th Place $2,250

5th - 7th Place $1,750

8th - 12th Place $1,500

13th - 18th Place $1,250

19th - 25th Place $1,000

$40,000

Wheelchair Division (M / W)

1st Place $2,000

2nd Place $1,500

3rd Place $750

4th Place $500

5th Place $250

$5,000

Masters Division (M / W)

1st Place $2,500

2nd Place $2,000

3rd Place $1,250

$5,750

First Illinois Open Division (M / W)

1st Place $1,500

2nd Place $750

3rd Place $250

$2,500

First Illinois Masters Division (M / W)

1st Place $1,000

2nd Place $500

3rd Place $250

$1,750

Time Bonuses

Open Division (Men) Not Cumulative

Sub: 2:12:00 $3,500

Sub: 2:11:00 $5,500

Sub: 2:10:00 $7,500

Sub: 2:09:00 $10,000

Sub: 2:08:00 $15,000

Sub: 2:07:30 $30,000

Sub: 2:07:00 $45,000

Sub: 2:06:45 $50,000

Sub: 2:06:30 $55,000

Sub: 2:06:15 $75,000

Sub: 2:06:00 $125,000

Sub: 2:05:42 $200,000 - CR Bonus

Sub: 2:04:55 $300,000 - WR Bonus

Smash WR Bonus Cumulative

Sub: 2:04:30 $100,000

Open Division (Women) Not Cumulative

Sub: 2:28:00 $3,500

Sub: 2:27:00 $5,500

Sub: 2:26:00 $7,500

Sub: 2:24:45 $10,000

Sub: 2:23:30 $15,000

Sub: 2:22:15 $30,000

Sub: 2:21:00 $45,000

Sub: 2:20:15 $50,000

Sub: 2:19:30 $55,000

Sub: 2:18:45 $75,000

Sub: 2:18:00 $125,000

Sub: 2:17:18 $200,000 - CR Bonus

Sub: 2:15: 25 $300,000 - WR Bonus

Smash WR Bonus (Women) Cumulative

Sub: 2:15:00 $100,000

Time Bonuses:

In addition to the $80,000 prize purse, The American Development Bonus offers an additional bonus for U.S. citizens** that finish The 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon in under the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying time.

A time bonus of $2,500 to the athletes who meet the "A" Standard*

Men

<2:20:00

Women

<2:39:00

A time bonus of $1,500 to the athletes who meet the "B" Standard

Men

<2:22:00

Women

<2:47:00

looks like Sell took home a decent payday.

With all of the Brooks and probably Saturn money as well. Yes.

The time bonuses are a little unfair to men as compared with Woman. A woman can cash in by running 12:35 seconds away from the world record while a man has to run 7:05 from the world record for the bonus to kick in. It is true that mens competition for most road races is deeper, should this be rewarded? In my opinion it should be. Men should get paid for running under 2:17:30 to even things out.

Are they really unfair. That is a shame.

Jamie Krzyminski, the top local female, likely had a good pay day. Her 2:43:35 clock time, 25th female, got her:

19-25th place U.S. development: $1,000

Top female Illinois: $1,500

U.S. "B" Olympic standard: $1,500

At 24, was her first marathon, I believe. She was among the best in the nation at the 5,000 and 10,000 while at MSU. Seems to be taking a low key approach to running these day while she works in Chicago.

I like that this 11 year old thread is linked from the front page under Chicago discussion. Dated information. I realized it when I saw that a sub-2:04:55 got a huge bonus for breaking the WR.

Back then they already knew Rupp is going to run a slow time. Even in 2006 caliber his time is pedestrian

I think in certain races prize money has been drastically reduced since the epidemic in early 2020.

Maybe not regarding the Chicago marathon, but in the "Women's Mini Marathon" (a 6 mile race for women) in NYC back in June (2021) I understand that the prize money for first place was $8000. In the past the winner of that race got $25,000.

darnit wrote:

I think in certain races prize money has been drastically reduced since the epidemic in early 2020.

Maybe not regarding the Chicago marathon, but in the "Women's Mini Marathon" (a 6 mile race for women) in NYC back in June (2021) I understand that the prize money for first place was $8000. In the past the winner of that race got $25,000.

This is worthy of a separate thread as this one is about the prize money in chicago. Race prize purses have been going lower and lower, besides for maybe the majors. Races that used to offer 1k (down from 3-5k a decade or so ago) now often offer nothing. You won't find any mention of prize money on the rock n roll marathon race webpages - they used to have a couple that paid on par with like Houston. Its very hard to find anything other than a marathon or half, besides the big name long established road races, that offer any prize money at all, and if they do it almost never will make up the cost of travel, I'm talking about 100-500 for the winner.

Eventually this will cause the races to get slower, which will cause them to lose participants and money, after which the trend may slowly reverse, over the next couple decades. Unfortunately running isn't seen as that serious of a sport and race directors and sponsors view it more of like a hobby. Hell with the pandemic, road races got treated the same as concerts and shows while sport ball mostly went on.

My mother who follows running a little only because I do asked how much money the Chicago Marathon winners get, a million? Lol. Prize money in running is a joke.