Race wants prize money back

dropped the bomb wrote:

CPA owned this thread. Boooooooom!!!!!!!

"you lose." Thanks for playing. Please try again.

OP - You should consider volunteering at the race next year or a least donating half the prize money. As my mother always says - two wrongs don't make a right.

The OP already came back on and stated he would help with some money donations and donate some time.

People have already put their firm opinions on the subject.

But what if the scenario was this:

You see an ad for a race saying the winner gets $1,800.

You mark it on your calendar and train specifically for it.

You make it to the race and you win the race.

At the ceremony they hand you a check for $900.

Do you pursue them for the additional $900 that you were expecting?

CPA still hasn't answered why he would donate money to this organization rather than direct to the YMCA, the City of Encinitas or some other charity that is more efficient that ACTUALLY PERFORMS THE SERVICE. As has been pointed out elsewhere, the major charities operate around 80% efficient, where as this organization is closer to 25% if you look at it from a cash basis, about 50% if you take out the race day expenses. So, even looking at it in the aggressive 50% scenario, if you donate a dollar to this organization, you end up with $0.40 actually going to a service versus $0.80 if you donate straight to the charity. But I am just an engineer, what do I know about math?

What does driving a train have to do with your inability to read a balance sheet?

joedirt wrote:

CPA still hasn't answered why he would donate money to this organization rather than direct to the YMCA, the City of Encinitas or some other charity that is more efficient that ACTUALLY PERFORMS THE SERVICE. As has been pointed out elsewhere, the major charities operate around 80% efficient, where as this organization is closer to 25% if you look at it from a cash basis, about 50% if you take out the race day expenses. So, even looking at it in the aggressive 50% scenario, if you donate a dollar to this organization, you end up with $0.40 actually going to a service versus $0.80 if you donate straight to the charity. But I am just an engineer, what do I know about math?

I have been mostly ignoring the technical accounting posts.

But it's not as simple as every donation providing 40 cents or 80 cents on the dollar.

Once overhead is covered, nearly 100% of each additional donation goes to the cause.

That's the way I see it. Races have huge overhead that a lot of people don't understand, such as Esquire.

I think Esquire thinks races are put on for free. I've run in this particular race for 3 years straight, took home prize money each year, my sister volunteered at one of their camps for kids, and I'll run again this year.

I'll tell you a race that takes advantage of peoples donations, The Encinitas Turkey Trot. They claim that a large amount of their proceeds go back to the San Diego Food Bank. Dig a little and you'll find that Jim O'Hara and Steve Leberhertz donate 1.00 of every registered participant entry fee back. This is a race that the community of Encinitas needs to know is ripping them off. $2,300 of all their proceeds wents to the SD Food Bank. Ouch!

I cant read 26 pages.

Did he give it back or not?

Too funny, Jim O'Hara is a tool. I know this guy and he charges $175 for 2hrs of coaching. My wife was left abandoned in a race that she paid him to run in with her.

They never took the prize money from anyone. The RD apparently overpaid everyone. He thought he was doing his math right and have out $24,000 instead of $15,000 that they were advertising. He's a good guy and does a lot for the community. He called all the runners up including me who won and wished us Merry Christmas and told us to keep the money. Nice guy, but bad at math. I guess he's paying the non-profit the $9,000 that he overpaid, ouch.

He explained that one of the volunteers wrote out the checks and he signed them. I recommend a basic math class for the guy. He said he advertised $15,000 total prize money on the site and stated that male/female split the total for each place. It is on their site. However it was confusing and even he didn't catch the mistake. Oh well, I'm happy, I've got some extra pocket change for Christmas.

Probably wrong thing to say, but the guy did screw up. Just hope he gets things right this year. It is a super cool race and I'll definitely be back next year. Cool medal!

summary plz wrote:

I cant read 26 pages.

Did he give it back or not?

RD came in this thread threatening to sue the OP. He then came to his senses and said he'd allow the winners to keep the extra money and he'd write a personal check to cover it.

People are still yelling about stupid things.

Interesting stuff wrote:

summary plz wrote:

I cant read 26 pages.

Did he give it back or not?

RD came in this thread threatening to sue the OP. He then came to his senses and said he'd allow the winners to keep the extra money and he'd write a personal check to cover it.

People are still yelling about stupid things.

Thanks.

I received a call a few days ago from the RD, Bob Nickles. I've participated over the last couple of years also. Nice guy and unfortunately just screwed up his numbers. I sincerely wish that he's not taking this too hard. He's turned a small race into a huge beach run at low tide with thousands participating. Trust me this guy will bounce back and have an even better race next year. They opened registration already and its $16,000 in prize money. It's funny how they listed their prize money, probably over paranoid.

What's the environmental impact of thousands of people running on a beach at low tide? There's a lot of sea life below the tide mark even if you can't see it.

joedirt wrote:

What's the environmental impact of thousands of people running on a beach at low tide? There's a lot of sea life below the tide mark even if you can't see it.

I bet you are just the life of the party. lolz

Sad, Sad, Sad wrote:

joedirt wrote:

What's the environmental impact of thousands of people running on a beach at low tide? There's a lot of sea life below the tide mark even if you can't see it.

I bet you are just the life of the party. lolz

Well you wouldn't be cos it seems you don't have a sense of humor, now that is sad.

Yeah right, trolling "BIG FRICKN TIME" haha, you were trying to be smart and got caught out and now you're trying to convince yourself you were just trolling "BIG FRICKN TIME". Idiot.

I'm new to this thread but just want to chime in that I was recently given too much prize money at a race...they told me they had made a mistake and I gave back the extra amount.

There, done. I feel good about it.

Cheers and out.

An RD Christmas Carol:

Bah Humbug:

1) Scrooge Bob and BOD stated they were determined that they were in the right and threatened they would sue to recover. Lawyer's had supposedly cited a "wrongful enrichment" as their claim even though a first year law student knows that advertising and reneging do not constitute "wrongful enrichment".

2) Bob claimed it was all a misunderstanding even though the website was worded exactly the same last year

3) Bob clandestinely tried to sneak in and change the footnotes on the prize money page

At this point, Bob and his lawyers all of sudden were visited by the 3 Spirits of Christmas.

The Ghost of Christmas past:

4) A runner from last year came forward and mentioned the full amounts were given out and not attempted to be reclaimed.

The Ghost of Christmas Present:

5) Bob's change to his website's prize money footnotes was busted by google history.

The Ghost of Christmas Future:

6) Many pointed out they would be laughed out of court because legally they didn't have a leg to stand on due to their own organization's confusion and that legally a contract that is unclear always benefits the other party.

7) Readers started looking at the "non-profit"'s financials and thought the IRS should get involved and take a look.

RD's Christmas Proclamation:

"I've seen the light, I was wrong after all. Merry Christmas to all, gifts to Tiny Tim Runners!"

8) Now most are saying Bob is actually a good guy and should be applauded.

What am I missing here?