Baltimore Marathon Drops Prize Money

* wrote:

social e wrote:

But what's the incentive for the race director to put up prize money?

I figure if you like running enough to organize a large race then you would probably want a fast race.

Some people put on races because they love running and want to provide opportunities to athletes. Some want to make money by bringing in as many joggers as possible. These joggers do not care about the top finishers.

So, they should offer prize money, but those who win should not be in the race for the money or not need the money and the money should not support their existence? In other words, the money should not go to people whose lives depend upon racing and who dedicate themselves completely to training and racing???

Looks like Dave Berdan is running and trying to win. He's run pretty fast before and he often beats these so called Ethiopians. Why is he running if there's not prize money?

Classic newspaper idiocy.

Numerous mentions of Race for Cure that probably never took sub 16 to win. Could find results one year that he won in 16:19 with 16:42 for second place.

Need 2:18 to qualify for Olympic marathon team.

It seems like for the newspaper, the fact that a local guy is running and in it for the win, is a win-win situation (better headline). The NYTimes had a big headline a couple of years ago if a Bronx resident could win the race:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/sports/deba-could-be-the-first-new-yorker-to-win-the-citys-marathon.html

Guess what? No one cared because she isn't 'Merican.

just like the comics wrote:

Classic newspaper idiocy.

Numerous mentions of Race for Cure that probably never took sub 16 to win. Could find results one year that he won in 16:19 with 16:42 for second place.

Need 2:18 to qualify for Olympic marathon team.

Seems like the newspaper just picked a local race to mention. I just looked up on active and he finishes at the top or wins a lot of the races he runs.

And as for the 2:18 for the Olympics. Maybe the reporter confused Olympic Trials with Olympics. 2:18 is the trials standard.

Anyway. My point was that a guy who could be considered sub-elite is running the race and was wonderin gwhy.

Screw it lets just give the money to the last place runner!!! How do you get better COMPETE!!!!!!!!

You say last place finisher; I say slowest winner!!!

NYCRunner wrote:

Considering there is WSX in NYC with a lot of imports, there is still the chance this race will be won by an African who doesn't even speak English ...

This attitude makes no sense to me. So hypothetically if i'm travelling or visiting another country, run a race and win but can only speak a few phrases of the language I should feel bad or not collect my prize?

Rick Grimes wrote:This attitude makes no sense to me. So hypothetically if i'm travelling or visiting another country, run a race and win but can only speak a few phrases of the language I should feel bad or not collect my prize?

No, but if it happened over and over, I don't think the race directors or sponsors would feel like they were getting much benefit from their prize money, especially if you never did press, wouldn't show up at the race expo, speak at a school, etc.

And you then might get decisions like the one in Baltimore where the race director or sponsor might wonder if the prize money might be better spent on something else.

This is becoming a big problem in Europe as well. Many 2:15-2:25 Kenyans are being shipped over to Europe over the summer and run races with prize money every weekend. While most Marathons and Half Marathons were won by domestic runners a decade ago, these are now a dime a dozen.

From a spectators perspective, this is rather boring.

One RD had prize money and used the tactic that the only people eligible for prize money were the ones that signed up before the online registration closing date. It caused her some headaches on race day,but only because the Ethiopians couldn't read the race portfolio.

Nutella1 wrote:

It seems like for the newspaper, the fact that a local guy is running and in it for the win, is a win-win situation (better headline).

The NYTimes had a big headline a couple of years ago if a Bronx resident could win the race:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/sports/deba-could-be-the-first-new-yorker-to-win-the-citys-marathon.html

Guess what? No one cared because she isn't 'Merican.

Here in NYC a lot of people cared 'cause NYRR did a good job of promoting her + prior to her success on the national / world stage, she was a frequent participant in NYRR races.

Dutch Guy wrote:

This is becoming a big problem in Europe as well. Many 2:15-2:25 Kenyans are being shipped over to Europe over the summer and run races with prize money every weekend. While most Marathons and Half Marathons were won by domestic runners a decade ago, these are now a dime a dozen.

From a spectators perspective, this is rather boring.

So instead of training better and getting faster, we should just keep all the fast people from competing?

Yes, because a local white guy running 2:30 is less "boring" to spectators than an Ethiopian running 2:25. Doesn't that make sense to you?

uhbuh wrote:

So instead of training better and getting faster, we should just keep all the fast people from competing?

uhbuh wrote:So instead of training better and getting faster, we should just keep all the fast people from competing?

I'm not suggesting excluding Kenyans and Ethiopians. I'm saying that their dominance is reducing financial opportunities for everyone in smaller races.

If the dominance of Kenyan and Ethiopian runners in the US or Europe reduces interest and the financial rewards of running in the US or Kenya that won't get more Americans training better or getting faster. It will just divert American runners into jobs where they can support themselves and either don't run or train less.

Mr. Positive wrote:Yes, because a local white guy running 2:30 is less "boring" to spectators than an Ethiopian running 2:25. Doesn't that make sense to you?

The point is that the local white guy who will run 2:30 in a race without prize money is cheaper than paying $10,000 in prize money to an Ethiopian running 2:25. The spectators probably don't care either way, but if they do they are more likely to care more about the local guy.

If you are the RD trying to talk a local business into putting up $10,000 in prize money, what value can you tell them they are getting for their $10,000? Financially supporting nomadic Ethiopian runners isn't of much value to most local businesses.

Are there any rules that prevent race directors from making the prize money "American only"?

Baltihorse wrote:

the Maryland road scene is so abysmal:

Having lived in Baltimore for 4 years, I have to disagree with you. There are plenty of fast dudes out there mixing it up. You just have to know which races to go to. If you want a good 10 miler, don't go to Baltimore 10; instead, go to RRCA Club Challenge 10. The last few years have had 36, 44, and 31 runners under an hour. I ran 61:36 there in 08 and didn't even crack the top 50 in a 544 person race.