Have you ever earned money in a race ?

My local Turkey Trot awards baked goods as prizes. So long as you recycle the plastic and/or aluminum packaging and flush to a sanitary sewer system, they are rather eco-friendly awards.

No joke, I won a small local trail race a few years ago, and they gave top 3 men and women a bottle of off-brand laundry detergent.

Yeah I I spent it all at the bar the same night. Running doesn't really pay the bills unless you're on a pro contract, eh?

I got a $20 gift card in a race where I set a PR. I fantasized about how I could quit my job until I realized the entry fee was $40

$18 for finishing 3rd in my age group. Didn't cash it though because I wasn't sure if I would lose NCAA eligibility.

Believe it or not, I've won a total of $150 for winning a pair of local North Mississippi 5K's. I was 49 or 50 when I won them.

One, sponsored by the Ole Miss women's basketball team, circled through campus, around the Square, and back down West Jackson Avenue, cutting up through what is now the Ford Center parking lot, then hooking a right and heading back to campus.

The other was in Water Valley. My Garmin crapped out just before the race and I ran blind, as it were--by feel, with a heart on fire. Finished in 19:28

In both cases, I was out in front after the first quarter mile or so and realized that my amazed pre-race observation--none of the good runners have shown up--was correct. I had never previously led in a race, in any context. The moment it happened and it was lil' ol' me out front, I ran like an animal being chased by predators: which is to say, thrilled, scared, and determined not to be caught, which meant running at the red line but with a little something in reserve in case the saber-toothed tiger got within leaping distance. But that never happened; I ended up winning both races easily.

Made a $100 bill for the first race and got a $50 US savings bond for the second. I've still got the savings bond.

Moral of the story: just keep showing up. Every now and then, if you're lucky and the race is small enough, you'll be the only halfway decent runner who actually shows up.

Yepper, 13th overall in a marathon in Virginia got me $300.00 bucks. And then driving back home through Pennsylvania got a speeding ticket that it just about covered.

Won $100 check for a podunk 5k won in 16:30ish

Won $250 for a 2:45 marathon second place.

Won $200 in lottery tickets 3x winning about 50-$100 ea time.

If you just want to grab a couple hundred dollars here and there for mediocre effort the races aren't too hard to find if you look in the right place.

Alan

Most winning price money in a Swedish marathon 35 years ago 650 dollars.

I think "been awarded" is more appropriate than "earned." Earning something implies being compensated for making a contribution. Running a race is recreation, it's not making a valuable contribution to anything beyond your own ego.

$50 Sports Basement gift card. Yeah you could say I'm a pro

When I was a kid at the lake the fair had 50 yard dash, but also various other races like 3-legged, wheel barrow etc. If you placed well in a few of those you can easily pull in 8-10 dollars. My friend was huge for his age. My hands barely touched the ground on the wheelbarrow.

Yes but not enough to put me in a higher tax bracket.

I use to take the Fossil watches that I won in Luke's Locker races down to Mexico. I could get up to three hours of jet ski rental for each one.

I bet no one else on this board won cash prize with a slower time than mine.

I won $50 savings bond for winning a 10k race in 47:xx. A local bank was the main sponsor for the race. It was a 5k/10k combo, and all the fast people ran 5k.

Some homeless people broke into my condo in St. Petersburg while I was away. They stole a few things including my waterbed. I found the Waterford Crystal clock that I won in a race at a garage sale.

$50 was the most I won in a year. Two years in a row, paid in cash for finishing second in the same small 5K.

There are some races in my area that will give top 3 cash awards of like 100, 75, and 50. I've kept track of how much cash I've earned over the years, looks like I'm at $1,775 for lifetime earnings. My best year was 2018, earning $700. My highest earning race was a road mile, earning $200. I am also no where near being elite.

I've done pretty well for myself for only being a 16flat 5k guy at my peak. I've won 250-300$ on four different occasions, 150$ twice and numerous running store gift cards/ free pair of shoes which is just as good as money for most of us here.

$50 cash (minus $15 to enter) at a little midwestern town's race that was a bizarre, non-standard distance - just out along a trail from one end of town to the other and back, and the official distance was "whatever that happens to be," it was maybe 4K or so. The prize went only to the overall winner, they didn't do a separate prize for the male and female winners. I didn't even know there was a money prize until they handed it to me.