There's a local race that has cash prizes to the top 5 overall finishers, but doesn't offer comped entries. The entry fee is $50-$80 depending on when you sign up. Cash prizes are
1st - $300
2nd - $150
3rd - $75
4th - $50
5th - $25
Really eats into your winnings to have to pay. Any others that do this?
I run in lots of races that have small amounts of prize money, but I've never heard of any of them offering comped entries. Every year I run a half-marathon that offers $100 to each of the age-group winners, but it costs around $75 to enter. I figure winning my age group just allows me to break even on entry fee, gas, and a small celebratory trip to Starbucks.
It's fine with me. I'm a hobby jogger, not a pro runner.
Interesting. I'm far from elite, but I've always been able to get into races for free. I moved to a new area and that has largely gone away. The local RDs have a different philosophy.
IMHO, if you're going to offer prize money, you should have a comp standard. The whole point of prize money is to incentivize competition, right? Otherwise why have it? If your prize dollars are less than your entry fees, that incentive isn't there and you're pretty much just a fun run.
I saw incentivization work at a local race a few years back. The RD wanted to see sub-15 on his 5k course, so he offered $400 for first place. All he'd get was local weekend warriors take his money year after year in 15:30-15:40. Nobody from the big city 90 minutes away wanted to make the trip for an all-or-nothing race, even for $400. I suggested he split the prize money between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and he'd get his sub-15.
Lo and behold, the next year guys started making the drive. Now the race is routinely won in 14:40-14:50 by guys who run 14:00-14:30 on the track. (he also gives out a lot of comps)
The RDs in my area don't seem to have any interest in drawing competitive fields. 17:00/20:00 is often good enough to win our big local 5Ks. I've never seen a time under 15. The races in my area are pretty much all run for the benefit of the fun runners. Some of them are well organized with good courses and are fine races for fast recreational runners, but they have to pay to get in just like everyone else.
We have a local race that will comp the top 3 into the next year's race and I think the RD will comp anyone who contacts her and can make a compelling argument for why they could be a winner. The result is that the race has had luck getting returning champions, but it's rare that a new talent appears. I think you need both decent prize money and a RD who actively recruits people with comps if you are going to see good fields year after year. Small races can't usually pay for hotels to house runners, so if it's a long drive for regional runners it's very difficult to actually draw them to a race.
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