Why would 4 Kenyans show up to a small race in Dallas?

dd wrote:

"I've been amazed at how many American runners -- not just the top ones, but also 30-minute 10K runners and worse -- will decide on which races to run based on the prospect of winning a few hundred bucks or less."

Why would this surprise you? If someone is planning on racing a 5k for the weekend, and there are several to choose from, why not take the one where a good run might get some money, a gift certificate, or something else? Usually those races also attract the better fields, so you get good competition as well. Do you want people to avoid any races with prize money, to demonstrate their love of the sport? Seems a bit perverse.

That may or may not be perverse, but it's obviously not what I was suggesting.

What's amazing to me is that people who spend so much time training -- in economic terms, people who are incurring huge opportunity costs -- will make decisions about their racing schedules based on economically insignificant prizes. When I spent hundreds of hours running thousands of miles to prepare for a race, I would not have seriously considered making a race selection based on the prospect of winning a few hundred bucks. In fact, a few hundred bucks wouldn't have caused me to miss a workout. I put too much value on my time and my long-term goals to get distracted by such petty enticements.

Taper Jean Girl wrote:

We just had three women and one male Kenyans enter a race in the area that pays only $300 to the winner. Are times that bad? They list their times from 13:41 for the guy and between 15:21 to 15:55 for the women. Shees.

This thread has gone on so many tangents that answering the original question is almost irrelevant.

I am the event director for the race the OP was talking about-- The McKinney Historical Run.

Watch the video, and check the results for yourself.

The event had a great turn out. We definitely had some fast people show up for the prize money, but no Kenyan women to my knowledge.

I am just really excited that this event has attracted any attention on letsrun.com

Elliot Starcevich

McKinney Historical Run

Event Director

It's amazing that you fail to grok that prize money races aren't that common in most areas and so the only $100-300 first place money 5k within a 100 mile radius in the span of 4+ weeks is probably going to draw the fastest runners and as a result see a much more competitive atmosphere than any of the races awarding mere trophies, medals, etc. Hell, most really good runners can win with just a workout effort and have $100-300 extra to spend on rent, travel, or a nice night out with the s.o. Must be nice to live comfortably enough that you can turn your nose up at $100-300, Ms. Antoinette.

Avocados Number wrote:

Tha

What's amazing to me is that people who spend so much time training -- in economic terms, people who are incurring huge opportunity costs -- will make decisions about their racing schedules based on economically insignificant prizes. When I spent hundreds of hours running thousands of miles to prepare for a race, I would not have seriously considered making a race selection based on the prospect of winning a few hundred bucks. In fact, a few hundred bucks wouldn't have caused me to miss a workout. I put too much value on my time and my long-term goals to get distracted by such petty enticements.

Try paying your rent with race preparation. You are really staking your claim as one of the softest skulls on Letsrun.

Not this guy wrote:

Try paying your rent with race preparation. You are really staking your claim as one of the softest skulls on Letsrun.

A better idea would be to pay your rent with a real job, like most people do. I realize that a number of runners in the U.S. like to claim that they are professional athletes, but if they are merely driving around to various local races looking for a soft field where they can occasionally pick up a couple hundred dollars, they are better characterized as unemployed.