Now lets start hearing where the hell these races are? Holy s***, some of this is amazing. Any body ever thought of mapping out some of these places you can win easy first place money and making a road trip out of it going from race to race? Sure it's not going to make you a whole lot of money, but it'd be fun if you had the time.
BTW, ran a 2:19:20 half a few weeks ago and made $75. I certainly wouldn't say I was racing, but still snagged 3rd.
*ha, already caught me error, it was a 1:19:20 half, still pretty bad.
I ran 15:23 and made 5000 dollars for breaking the "course record" of 16:33. I lied on my age and told them I was eighteen when I was only seventeen, I'm eighteen now. It was a race on the other side of the state so nobody recognised me, a couple of highschoolers knew me jsut because everyone in Oregon knows eachother.
I'm curious what's so awful about 2:39 marathons, 15:20 5K's, or even 1:20 half marathons?
Are you all so snobbish that you look askance on any runner who tries to race fast and doesn't meet your fake standards?
How many of you, despite your practiced elitism, are actually the 14:00 5,000m runners you claim to be? What a hilarious spectacle it would be to uncover all the liars on this and other threads. Some of you belong in the "Biggest Lies about Times" thread where people pretend that they were "just jogging" that 15:30 5K and they're actually a stud Kenyan training at altitude in Albquerque for next year's Golden League.
Give it a rest.
Whoever won the Beckley Half in WV last year ran like 76 something I think. They pay out was $750... this year Kenyans came. Running 76 and change for a half is a good time, but it's not a $750 good time. Maybe some guys on this thread are being elitist, but there's a difference between ridiculing times and ridiculing prizes won with these times. A 15:20 5k is fast, but if it earns you more than $100 at a race then you're a lucky bastard.
A_Goofy_Runner wrote:
Whoever won the Beckley Half in WV last year ran like 76 something I think. They pay out was $750... this year Kenyans came. Running 76 and change for a half is a good time, but it's not a $750 good time. Maybe some guys on this thread are being elitist, but there's a difference between ridiculing times and ridiculing prizes won with these times. A 15:20 5k is fast, but if it earns you more than $100 at a race then you're a lucky bastard.
That's fair.
curious wrote:
Are you all so snobbish that you look askance on any runner who tries to race fast and doesn't meet your fake standards?
How many of you, despite your practiced elitism, are actually the 14:00 5,000m runners you claim to be?
My 5K PR is 15:59. Not pathetic, exactly, but certainly nothing to write home about. You don't need to run 14:00 to know a 16:00 5K isn't worth $500.
Yeah, the Kenyans are going to show up in my town next year to win $100 for a 13:30 5k. That's crap to say a 15:30 5k isn't deserving of a $100 prize at some local race. I don't think anybody's talking about races with 5,000 people and nobody shows up. These are most likely relatively small, local races that offer some prize money that nobody knows about. I should know, we can smell our own. I won $100 for a 16:15 5k in a pretty big city, and while I was surprised to win, I knew for sure no one was going to run under 15:30.
A_Goofy_Runner wrote:
Whoever won the Beckley Half in WV last year ran like 76 something I think. They pay out was $750... this year Kenyans came. Running 76 and change for a half is a good time, but it's not a $750 good time. Maybe some guys on this thread are being elitist, but there's a difference between ridiculing times and ridiculing prizes won with these times. A 15:20 5k is fast, but if it earns you more than $100 at a race then you're a lucky bastard.
Fifty bucks for a 3:01 marathon in which I was fourth overall. I, uh, still have the $50 bill.
won a year membership to the YMCA (400-500 value), 2 tickets to a baseball game in one of the suites, with a parking pass and some other stuff, all for running like 17:15 i think, oh did i mention i came in second overall and the person to beat me was a girl. this was a few years back and i was just effing around, but still what a crazy payout.
I agree, these are ridiculous. I'm usually one of the top 3-5 local finishers in any road race I enter, unless it's a huge one where everybody in the city runs and then I'm like top 20. But if there's more than $200 of total prize money offered we always get shown up by a bunch of folks who run like 13:10 on the track and just go around collecting prize money.
some guy just won a brand new 2006 honda civic for a 30+ 10k here in LA last week. kid you not, first year race, no publicity, they jsut handed him the keys and said have fun. i think a farm team guy was there, but no kenyuans. crazy!
Do gift certificates count? If so, I collected $20 for winning my age group with a 5K time of over 30:00. The story there is that the race organizer's 8-year-old daughter wanted to run the race, and decided I was the person she wanted to run it with (I was friends with her dad). So how could I say no? She was a real trooper and thoroughly deserved her own award. As for me . . . well, it's conceivable that I really did win my age group(it was a very small race); I just hope it was legit and not something the organizer rigged because I agreed to escort his daughter!
I've been lurking on this board for years, but I had to post in response to this thread. I once won $50 for a 31 minute 5k. My school was offering a prize for 1st male and female teachers and I had just gotten off crutches the day before and I paced another teacher in her 1st 5k. I was the 3rd teacher but 1st male. I don't think anyone can top that.
I won $300 for a 15:55 5k beating 12,000 people...okay so it was Race for the Cure so most of those weren't running.