$600,000 purse for 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials

Precious Roy wrote:

That is about $200k more than was offered in 2012. For the top US runners like Meb and Shalane, it is a pay cut over the appearance fees for Boston/London, but worth it when you factor in the benefit of the Olympic sponsorship bump. For a dark horse runner who makes the team, that kind of money can make a huge difference.

In the best of all possible worlds there would be less of a drop off after the top three. The runners who are 3-10 are usually athletes who do not have much financial support and could see a lot of improvement if they had more resources.

Obviously for athletes earning a million dollars a year the direct payout does not mean a lot. But, even for those guys it adds up to more with performance incentives and additional sponsorship opportunities. What I was thinking of is those sub-elites who will get to pay some bills by just cracking the top-10. Btw, I remember when everyone showed up when there were no direct payouts.

What other sport offers prize money as support for lower place finishers?Three or four of the guys that finished top 10 in 2012 are out of the sport or have zero chance of making the 2016 team. It is also ironic that the marathon is by far the weakest distance event for US men, will be the easiest team to make in 2016 yet have the most prize money.

Far Out West wrote:

What other sport offers prize money as support for lower place finishers?.

Golf.

Far Out West wrote:

What other sport offers prize money as support for lower place finishers?

I believe you can finish pretty far down the field in a professional golf tournament and still take home a check (even if not a Happy Gilmore sized one).

It seems like there is a lot more money in pro golf than professional road racing though.

Far Out West wrote:

I would also like to see a prize money list for runners published like it is for golf and tennis. Not appearance fees or shoe contracts, strictly a list of prize money won in races. be kinda cool to see that.

The ARRS does that in their weekly email of race results. They also have this:

Does anyone else thinks it ridiculous that the women and men get the same prize money, considering how much deeper and stronger the mens field is compared to the women? The 6th place woman placed 5 (!!!) after the leader. The 10th place- who will still get 7k- placed 8 minutes after the leader....AKA hobbyjogging.

LI Runner wrote:

Considering it is the Olympic trials, the pinnacle of US marathon running (arguably), I can see paying only the top 3 that make the team.

However, one can argue that this race can also be a platform for the lower placing runners to keep going for 4 more years and giving them the money to help them over that period is a worthy reason to go deeper with the prize money.

I like that the prize awards go deep. Wish it would even go deeper.

It more like paying for the pinnacle of mediocrity.

We will send the slowest major nation team to the games.

Here is a overlooked fact current to this US distance runners.

10,000 meters 2014 : Japan 6 men under 28 , US 2 men under 28

Seems like American are more interested in the trials than the Olympics

I can see this:

A set amount based on your qualifications/qualifying time from expenses only up to $X.