Buffalo Marathon=cheap bastards

I just wonder how much prize money a race with less than 1000 participants could have. I have also finished a race where I won my age group and did not stay to collect the prize, so they mailed it to me for free, and this prize was a book, presumably much more expensive to mail than a check.

I have been to many of events where the awards are not handed out until hours later. Some out of town events require you to have been checked out of your hotel room and flights must be caught or travel home started.

Who is in the mood to stand around 2-3 hours smelling like hell and stiffening up waiting to see if you are in-line for an award?

I agree. I've got a box full of little plaques and trophies in my basement from a variety of races over the years. I rarely stick around for awards ceremonies as they happen several hours after I finish. After a race, I typically hit the road as soon as I can.

Almost all of the awards I have were mailed to me by the RD...some asked for payment to cover shipping and some did not. I never minded paying a few bucks for shipping because getting that crappy little plaque is still pretty cool; I can go through that box in a few years and relive some fun memories from many of the races.

"You ever heard the expression "must be present to win"??? "

Yeah, for door prizes, not for awards.

is this the norm wrote:

Of course there was no mention or way of knowing how I placed when I crossed the finish line,

Am I missing something here?

This is a small race so presumably does not have prize money going 15 - 20 places deep. Wouldn't anyone who placed in the top three or so have a pretty good idea where they finished given they would have seen the leaders off the start, spectators cheering along the course ("you're in second!") or even an announcer at the finish calling in the third place finisher?

Barring any of that, maybe the one or two guys who beat you might be good sources to ask as you come out of the chute.

Seriously, lighten up, Dude. You won something. If it costs you $10 for not sticking around to claim your prize, so be it. Your money prize also has a plaque with it. I know because I was there for the awards - to get mine. Crazy me, stuck around for the marathon awards that began close to @ 11:30am - four and a half hours after the marathon start. Please, let me praise you for being so super fast! Three hours would be a REALLY long time to wait if you won your prize money by finishing your marathon in under two hours. Wow, you really rock. With your elite status, it's a wonder they didn't just hand you your check and crummy plaque at 7am at the starting line and save everyone the trouble.

Now if by chance you were exaggerating slightly about the awards ceremony delay - please read on.

Make the RD an offer - send him a SASE for your check and tell him to throw out the crummy plaque that means nothing to you. Collect your winnings and pride yourself on knowing you got the better of the deal, hell you will have saved yourself $10 less $.82 in postage and the cost of two envelopes, of course. BUT YOU WILL HAVE WON AGAIN! Because that's what really matters to you. Winning, right? You have to win this one over the RD - just like you won the prize money from those CHEAP BASTARDS who want to give you money for running...hmmmmmm. Imagine that, prize money to arrogant and apparently clueless runners("I had no way of knowing I had won". Hello Crock, looks like you are full of something - just say you blew off the awards and figured they'd send you the check and you got your running shorts a little twisted when they wanted to nip you the $10.

Man, you are right though (there you go, winning again, damn you are good!). They are cheap and you are awesome. Perhaps those of us who ran and stuck around to pick up our awards could start up a collection to cover the cost of getting your award to you. Maybe we could just get everyone together at a time that would be convenient for you and re-enact the awards ceremony, well just your check presentation. Hell, let's just get a limo, balloons, a GIANT check and Ed McMahon to deliver it personally to your door...wait, that may be going a bit too far with Mr. McMahon's current condition and all.

Besides, you won money at a race, you didn't cure cancer.

Last month I finished 3rd in a horribly organized 10 miler. Days later the director called me and told me first place had been DQed so I neeeded to mail back my medal and get a new one. I got the new medal but not the promissed $1.80 to cover postage. I wish they would have kept the medal instead. I ran a 1'02 for christ sake.

The OP's case that it wasn't obvious whether he won or not is understood, the placings in the masters' races are not usually obvious.

However, I've gotta go with Jason that as a winner it's your responsibility to stick around for the awards (and if necessary, clarify that you did win so you know whether this is necessary). Honestly the prize money is for your appearance at the award ceremony just as much as it is for running the race.

Do you think Ryan Hall would get paid the same amount if he just went home after every race? At least all you were asked to do is attend one ceremony in a location where you already were. Hall spends hours per week doing interviews, commercials, etc.

it'd be easy to side with the RD in this case, but i doubt any of you have had to interact with Beishline on more than one occasion. the guy is a miserable curmudgeon... but alas, our fair city only has 1 marathon, so you take what you can get

Why are we still talking about the op? He didnt even know his finishing place the guy clearly didnt win shit. Hes probably paying ten bucks for a little age group award

the dude with the funny hat wrote:

Do you think Ryan Hall would get paid the same amount if he just went home after every race? At least all you were asked to do is attend one ceremony in a location where you already were. Hall spends hours per week doing interviews, commercials, etc.

Not a very good comparison here. He spends hours doing interviews etc. because the good will translates into endorsement money. The OP was not asked to to attend a ceremony, he finished a race that he did not think he had won and went home

Bullcrap. I am not standing around for 4 hours in sweaty clothes, especially if the weather is crappy.

This is a horrible practice.

I placed 2nd in a marathon last year - former winner - and I had to catch a flight that afternoon, so I left. I emailed the RD the next day, told him I would gladly pay for the shipping. No response. Emailed him again. No response.

Dick. I won't run his race again.

Completely unrelated, but I did a small town 4th of July 10k a few years ago. My time wasn't what I hoped for so rather than hang around for results to be posted we went off to a pancake breakfast to beat the rush before the even slower runners finished. After breakfast, 40 minutes maybe, we went back to the finish only to find that the finish line had been dismantled, the registration tables and such had been cleared out, there were no posted finishing results to be found, and whateer awards ceremony they had was completed. We hung around for some craft fair sort of thing and to watch a bit of the parade before heading home.

The following week I was really surprised to receive a box in the mail with a little trophy for an age-group placing. It was a nice gesture on the part of the race organizers, but even if I had known of the result, I would have been ok without another trophy. To this day, I've never seen finishing results from that race, but another runner (and USATF certified course measurer) told me that the course is notoriously long explaining why my time was better than I figured would be needed to place.

A typical top 3 female master at a small event like this might finish 100-150th overall and 30-40th overall female. A 3:30-3:45 might put a female master in the top 3.

Question is: Is it the responsibility of a good RD to contact the entrant of winning an award and getting the award to them and how.

www.666energy.com wrote:

You ever heard the expression "must be present to win"??? ...It's the right thing to do. Yes, you do have responsibility after the race, if you win the race.

The Race Director is in the right here....you showed him and his race no respect, so he's just making life difficult for you due to your actions.

Jason - I normally agree with a lot of things you write on here, but this time I think you're off base. First off, I don't see anywhere on the Buffalo website where it says you "must be present to win". Second, as a prize money race Buffalo should have been catching all the money winners in the chute and telling them to stick around. It sounds like if the OP knew he/she was getting an award he/she would have stuck around. The race bears some level of responsibility to make their system work.

We're talking about mailing a check here. Check, envelope, stamp, done. If we were talking about mailing something with weight or size that's a different story.

this thread should end now. Whoever started it thought up a quick story so they could start up conversation bashing the race. No one who "has no idea of knowing what place they finished" would be receiving a check, that's absurd. To the OP, get a life.

To the OP, no this is not the norm. Unless they state on their website or somewhere in their published race rules that checks not picked up at the awards ceremony are subject to a $10 fee, then you have the right to expect payment in full. And if they do state a fee, why wouldn't the RD just subtract $10 from what he OWES you and get it in the mail?

Sorry to hear Buffalo had these issues this year. Lots of marathons that weekend to choose from. Come up to Vermont next year and race with us!

loser wrote:

No one who "has no idea of knowing what place they finished" would be receiving a check, that's absurd.

Sorry, gotta disagree with this one too. Ran a small local marathon back in 1989 when I was racing ok (for me, it's all relative...). Completely blew up, ran about 20 minutes slower than I expected. Hung around awhile getting myself together. As I was packing up my truck to head home the RD, a friend of mine, told me "stick around I think you won something". I laughed and gave him a "yeah right". Turns out all the guys ahead of me in my age group won Top 10 awards or something like that so they gave me the age group award and a small cash prize. No double dipping I guess. Had no idea. Felt bad for blowing off the awards, but a few days later the medal and check came in the mail.

unicyclemichael wrote:

Last month I finished 3rd in a horribly organized 10 miler. Days later the director called me and told me first place had been DQed so I neeeded to mail back my medal and get a new one. I got the new medal but not the promissed $1.80 to cover postage. I wish they would have kept the medal instead. I ran a 1'02 for christ sake.

__________________________

62 minutes?

Masters?

You got an award?

WOW!