Race wants prize money back

It's not just how we runners saw it, it's how the staff of the event also saw it since they wrote both the fake checks AND the real checks for the "wrong" amount.

"The site listed total prize amount, which any one can see means the money was to be split in each category?"

So "any one can see" clearly gets tossed out since they couldn't see it their damn selves.

Read this:

10 Mile total prize money: Overall Male & Female

1ST PLACE – $1800

2ND PLACE – $1000

3RD PLACE – $700

Now read this:

The total overall prize money for male 1st place for the 10 mi race is $1800.

If you were given the second part as a true/false question how do you answer it?

Knowing there are age group winners and overall winners this says the overall winner gets $1800.

An age group winner would get something else.

Have you ever been to a carnival?

They have those games where it says - Every game has a winner and they display these huge stuffed animals.

You play the game and win and they reach under the counter and give you a tiny toy that you didn't even know was available as a prize.

This RD guy is a carnival barker.

Star wrote:

It's not just how we runners saw it, it's how the staff of the event also saw it since they wrote both the fake checks AND the real checks for the "wrong" amount.

This point bears repeating several times per page

To the race director you listed the prize money in a way I have never seen it listed before. Totaling the male and female money is something no race I have ever participated in has done. It is unreasonable to expect the athletes to total the prize money for every race, age group, costume contest, and team contest to check if the numbers make sense. When money comes into play you need to be clear and you clearly were not. When I was at the race a year ago there was confusion about the team contest. There was no criteria on the website on how the team contest was scored. Usually in a team contest you would score teams based on their 4 or 5 fastest members. I know some people assembled teams for this purpose and then come the awards ceremony found out that the team competition was which team had the most people run the race. I have never seen this before and I know some were frustrated by this but no one made a big deal about it. But this prize money situation this year is different.

You have failed to look at this from the elites perspectives. For some of these guys it is their job. This is how they make their living and pay the bills. And they are not necessarily top guys who make a lot, they are just scraping by. In some cases they traveled to the race solely for the payday. From their perspective this would be the same as an employer telling an employee a month into the job, "we accidentally offered you twice as much we intended to and now we you have to give us back the money we didn't intend to pay you."

Also I was a prize money winner at your race in 2014. As far as I can tell the prize money was listed the same way on the website. Maybe the totals added up to what you intended to give out I'm not sure. But the prize money I received for the place I finished matched up with what was on your website. There was no splitting the amount between genders. I'm not sure what changed between last year and this.

Finally I will say very few people on this board are elite and you need to realize there are a lot of anonymous trolls. While I realize an elite field in not always necessary for every race I'm disappointed you want to do away with an elite field. Elites do appreciate races that provide elite support and/or prize money and I'm sure you could reach out to some elites who would want to help you promote elites and an elite field to benefit your race in the future.

I know the pro/elite running scene is something you are unfamiliar with but I think you need to take a minute to take a look at this from elites perspective. They put in hours every day training and make lots of sacrifices. And I think it would be nice if you took some time to recognize that and maybe try to understand that they don't see this as them taking money from a charity, but you trying to take money they earned from their profession.

I agree and see what you are saying. I do appreciate your nice note and it was never my intention to damage, hurt or take away from anyone. That's the truth. The comments on here are really hurtful, especially when we do so much to give back. I'm just shocked at some of the comments I've read, but I'll have to deal with that.

IN THE SPIRIT OF THE HOLIDAYS, WE'VE DECIDED THAT THE PRIZE MONEY WINNERS WILL KEEP THE OVERPAID PRIZE MONEY AND I PERSONALLY WILL ABSORB THE LOSS AS IT WOULD NOT BE FAIR FOR OUR ORGANIZATION TO SUFFER THIS LOSS.

I sincerely hope that the people on this message board can see some of the good and positive in this. Although I'm sure I'm going to get blasted again and accused of multiple wrong doings. Next year I will be more clear in our prize money posting. I learned a valuable lesson. Enjoy the holidays everyone :)

It’s all settled!!!

My name is Megan McCarthy and I am a part of the Surfing Madonna nonprofit board of directors since April 2013. We had a meeting to discuss this dispute and there were definite mixed ideas and emotions. In conclusion, the board voted to take full responsibility for the mistake and let the runners keep the over payment simply because the website was not as clear as it should have been, which was my fault. I posted the prize money that way thinking it was clear by saying "total" and “overall”. Bob and I both, indeed, work extremely long hours and it was something I completely overlooked. It was an honest mistake, but we take full responsibility and there is a huge lesson learned. The 2016 prize money breakdown will be posted shortly and will be very clear :) I promise.

I hope this will end all of the negativity and hateful comments. We have another big race that is in the works and this situation is taking away from all of the positivity and excitement for 2016. We appreciate all feedback, good and bad, and if anyone would like to discuss this further, we’re happy to talk on the phone. Our phone number is on the websites –

http://www.surfingmadonna.org

or

http://www.surfingmadonnnaRUN.org

Surfing Madonna Oceans Project is a fabulous organization that has had a HUGE positive impact on the lives of hundreds of special needs kids, families, wounded veterans, adults with disabilities, little sea lions, etc. We encourage everyone to come out and be a part of our programs. We are building community and making a real difference – that is our focus.

For those of you who want to read something positive, please click the link. It’s an AWESOME story about our organization helping a paraplegic go in the ocean after 50 years!! Truly amazing – Thanks to our RD, Bob Nichols.

http://www.encinitasadvocate.com/news/2015/sep/23/surfing-madonna-disabled-men-cean/

Merry Christmas to all… :)

Good call Bob. Not sure why it had to take this long, but regardless of what led up to it, much Respect on you doing the right thing.

Thank you, I appreciate that. Happy Holidays!

By the standards of this Forum, believe it or not, you got a fairly sympathetic reaction (I am entirely serious). Can I congratulate you on making the correct decision.

Rdsurfingmadonna wrote:

Thank you, I appreciate that. Happy Holidays!

This was the right thing to do. It took longer than it should have to get there, but I'm glad it did. I'm personally donating $50 to your charity now.

Happy Holidays!

Thank you for that!!! I just saw your donation come through and you turned our whole day around. Thank you for believing in what we do. You'll be receiving a tax receipt in the mail from us this week. Is there a particular area or project you'd like to see your donation go towards? I'm also going to send you a free entry in the mail with your receipt. I know you live quite some distance from the race, so you can pass the promo code that I send you to anyone whom you would like if you can't participate.

Look me up if you ever make it to San Diego T and I'll treat you to a beer or coffee. Thanks again for turning our day around and happy holidays :)

Sincerely,

Bob Nichols

Just wanted to pop in and say thank you for being understanding. You can count on that I will be signing up for your 2016 race.

Good job wrote:

This was the right thing to do. It took longer than it should have to get there, but I'm glad it did. I'm personally donating $50 to your charity now.

Happy Holidays!

Thank you for that!!! I just saw your donation come through and you turned our whole day around. Thank you for believing in what we do. You'll be receiving a tax receipt in the mail from us this week. Is there a particular area or project you'd like to see your donation go towards? I'm also going to send you a free entry in the mail with your receipt. I know you live quite some distance from the race, so you can pass the promo code that I send you to anyone whom you would like if you can't participate.

Look me up if you ever make it to San Diego T and I'll treat you to a beer or coffee. Thanks again for turning our day around and happy holidays :)

Sincerely,

Bob Nichols

************************************************************

What's the over/under on Good Job asking for half of his donation back?

C'mon man. He made a hard decision, give him a break.

Thank you for the nice note, I appreciate that. Have a wonderful holiday and please reach out to me if you see mistakes that we are making on our race site. I really appreciate all the feedback and just want to make this a fun race for everyone.

Sincerely,

Bob

Rdsurfingmadonna wrote:

IN THE SPIRIT OF THE HOLIDAYS ...

Thank you and your BofDs for doing the right thing. I hope they also do The Right Thing and not accept a payback check from either you or the other person who wants to absorb the blame. Stuff happens . . .

Letsrun, this is a freakin' Christmas miracle! (Yes, I said Christmas, because I don't know the Jewish Santa and Kwanza is...well, I'm racist.)

If only someone could find a way to end the ridiculous Rossi thread this way?! Of course, that thing is nasty and insane enough to bring Krampus for several hundred years.

Anyway, kudos to the RD for taking a hard road, admitting his mistake, and especially for coming on here to do so. I definitely changed my opinion of him greatly over his last several posts.

By the way, the racist thing was a joke. :) Happy MANY holidays, everyone!

I think we should make donations to cover the overpayment of award winners. If just a few of us made a $100 donation, it would more than cover the cost incurred by the charity.

Bob I know your decision was greatly appreciated by the prize winners.

To those piling on about how long this decision took I think its time to cut them some slack. This wasn't chump change this was $9000 mistake. I don't know how much was given back but I would guess that the majority was not. That's not something that's easy to deal with. If you're lucky enough to piss away $9K and it not be a big deal me and 99% of the country is envious of you.

I have to say as someone who had some insider info on to what was going on I am stunned by how factually correct this thread was for the most part. For something like this on this site I would have guessed at least half the things presented would have been BS and I'm stunned no one tried to seriously impersonate the RD at some point to get a reaction.

This is a fun race on the beach. Not a lot of places where you can run on a beach where it is hard enough packed to actually run fast. Plus since the race began there have been solid competitive fields. If I can fit race into my racing schedule in future years I would love to race it again and I hope this experience hasn't soured the foundation on elite runners and they continue their elite support.

Thank you for support. I screwed up and wrote the checks, so I'll pay. I also overlooked our website and thought things were clear when they weren't. This is my responsibility as an RD and as a person with no RD experience, I'll have to learn the hard way.

I need to pay for my mistake and make things really clear on our site for next years race. I think the most damaging part of this whole episode were the comments about our organization that were made today. It doesn't just hit me, it hits all of our volunteers, board members, supporters. It is what it is, we'll move forward and have a bigger and better race next year.

Again, I really appreciate what you said. I now know that when I have a question in regards to our race, I can always come here and find great answers.

Thanks again and have wonderful holiday :)

Bob Nichols