Wittenberg article in the NY Times

Everyone needs to grow up, there is nothing shocking about Mary's salary. She is like Marilyn from the "Munsters" tv show...the only normal one, only the rest of the NYRR Munsters don't realize it. I would like to know what Tanser and the rest of the Addams Family rejects get paid.

I am guessing, based on the individuals who were griping and were quoted, nobody serious would go on record to make legitimate complaint; nor is there anything really wrong. Baggage? Really? Was it stupid, yes, but NYT news? Based on the Leni Reifenstahl picture on the cover, there is some serious PR at work here, not news. The races have been boring, expensive and overcrowded for some time.

Elites are happy, they are on the payroll, but nobody knows who any of them are. The money for kids and other charities is for real; that is a great thing and should have got more play. Otherwise, there are so many marathon/race choices these days, does anyone really care about another 4-miler in CP? They should just name them "Marathon Qualifiers #1 - #9." As for the Marathon, it has always been a first-timer race in the first-timer capital of the world.

[B Old Mary is sure full of herself. 500k salary??? Can she still be.Blue Collar?

You bet she is full of herself and with good reason. She has kick-started a moribund running club into bustling, high performance multinational entity that is an advocate for road running, cross country and track at the highest levels of the sports, while also encouraging the children and everyone in between these opposite segments to participate as well.

To achieve this she has raised substantial new revenues through existing and new races, revenues that have been used to offer programs to encourage new runners, enhance the skills of the better runners, and bring together the most elite runners to enable them to compete with each other for serious prize money.

This has ushered in a wonderful new era at NYRR to the benefit of the metro NY running community and beyond.

The 500K salary? Please. She is running a major non-profit in the middle of Manhattan with a huge set of responsibilities. She has achieved growth in the business and created good jobs. She has forged good relations with the other potential users competing or the same space. And she has done this with aplomb. Every cent of the $500K has been earned,

As a point, $500K in NYC buys you a lifestyle equivalent to a middle class lifestyle anywhere else in the country. It is not a lot. $500K salaries are a dime a dozen n NYC. End of story.

She is by no means blue collar, she does have some middle class emoluments, however, to suggest she is living some extravagant lifestyle of $500K is simply laughable.

Am I wrong?

On the other hand, there is this thing called The Competitor Group...

The Competitor Group is for sale. It wouldn't surprise me to see the NYRR make a play for the R-R series. Although, they would have to change their name to the NYR-joggers.

rocna wrote:

riley stops wrote:

Mary W has done more for the sport than anyone else

Done more for who? And at what cost?

Elites love her for the money. She has become rich, but how has the sport improved? Jacking fees so joggers can pay the bills is improving the sport?

Just because the joggers don't appreciate the elite athletes like pro baseball fans appreciate paying $100 per ticket to see A-Rod suck isn't Mary's fault.

Hobby Horse wrote:

The Competitor Group is for sale. It wouldn't surprise me to see the NYRR make a play for the R-R series. Although, they would have to change their name to the NYR-joggers.

New York Rock'n'Roll (NYRR). They don't even need to change their name. Brilliant.

Precious Roy wrote:

[quote]Jerome Kopf wrote:

If she was partner level at a big NY law firm by now, she would be making 2-3 mil a year with more built up in pension and firm equity for a very, very nice retirement at 62. $500k plus the other perks is middle class for Manhattan.

I looked this up, ready to call B.S., and now can only say -- For manhattan, no, for certain sections areas, sort of. For the ~2000 people who live in 10004, median income is >300k

. In 2005, the upper 20% averaged ~365k (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/nyregion/04income.html) 500k will definitely be middle class absolutely nowhere, except very narrow slivers of L.A., but it's not tip of the top either.

she's probably worth that much money, and if she gave back more than half her salary to defray people's entry costs, it would be like $10/person. Big events is expensive yo.

Anyone else think this was about Wittenberg college and wonder why the NY times was talking about them?

Witt wrote:

Anyone else think this was about Wittenberg college and wonder why the NY times was talking about them?

No, Only you could be that stupid.

Please notice that the 500k is base salary.

On top of that she gets:

- a bonus (expect that to be at least the same as the base salary in boom years - so far all of her years have been boom years)

- "retirement" benefits. This is where they "hide" a lot of money. It is not visible in the filing but Mary will earn more money per year after she is retired than what's her base salary right now.

Mary Wittenberg is like Phil Knight. If they weren't giving money to a tiny parcel of elites, no one, capital N-O O-N-E would give a flying FVK about either of them.

To be honest, her salary makes me happy that someone in our sport can be successful and make that kind of money. And she could certainly get it somewhere else. Why would we advocate circumstances where our sport attracts lower quality people because better people who love it would rather support their family.

I don't care about the whole elite support either. Seems like she's a bit enamored with them, and I think she's mistaken that Meb and Ryan Hall are going to be household names (let alone heroes) beyond those that frequent LRC. But I would say if the money is there, go for it. I don't know how much it drives up the fees, but I doubt too much.

That said, I take issue with their focus shifting to the masses, and the notion that bigger is better. This has come at the expense of serious non-elite local runners. NYRR has progressively increased the size of the marathon and participation in their races, while making them progressively restrictive for the types of people that read this board:

(1) Lowered auto time for marathon to

Censored!! Kidding.

(1) Lowering the auto time based on feedback from runners is BS and obnoxious when you're making the race so much bigger. I was hurt this year and have to run sub 2:45 in a few weeks, otherwise I'm locked out (have another shot at the Manhattan half, but last year it was in the midst of a blizzard)

(2) The races are now zoos. Total zoos. And impossible to get into.

(3) 9 races is too many for a marathoner. I wouldn't care if they hadn't made the standards lower.

Xfitguy_the_real_one_1 wrote:

What Mary W. did was expanding the field, not the quality. If she was concerned about Quality, she would have added some mudder/obstacle challenges. Anyone can run a 5/10k. It's not an achievement.

How would you know?

I can care less about this thread except to point out that she presumably lives in New York. That kind of pay raise is just a little over inflation. At the same time she is getting squeezed by taxes. Moreover, this is just some nonprofit organization. She doesn't have stock options. I doubt she has some huge deferred bonus package.

Competitor Group which sponsors the RNR Marathon series was purchased by the same group owning the Tour De France. This was announced several months ago. Bigger question will be if the Tour ownership will begin canceling RNR sponsor contracts for their own relationships

While all your points are true, you cannot overlook that the Marathon and the weekly races are beyond capacity. Mary has come closer than anyone else connecting the recreational runner to elites and supporting youth activities.

Now go cry about elite runners not making enough money and figure out a better plan.

glycerinrunner wrote:

Competitor Group which sponsors the RNR Marathon series was purchased by the same group owning the Tour De France.

From what I've read, Amaury Sports Organization is seeking to acquire the Rock 'n' Roll Half-Marathon and Marathon series, not The Competitor Group itself. A deal has not yet been reached.

Starting to like you more and more haha