Baltimore Marathon Drops Prize Money

First of all, Ryan has always been friendly to me whenever I've bumped into him and I'm far from an elite runner (17:30 5K, 1:20 half, 3:11 marathon) so I don't get the elitest comment that was made about him and his group in a prior post.

As for the Baltimore Marathon another aspect besides the course being brutal for the full is the fact that the half merges onto the full course at the 3/16 mile mark. If I were running the full the last thing I'd want is people running the half flying by me from miles 16-26, that's got to cause some to say I'd like to run a different marathon instead. I understand they are trying to get everyone to finish together but most major marathons have the half people run the first half of the course, that's the right way to do it.

Just my 2 cents on the Baltimore Marathon.

-Mitch

Just saw my old buddy dave Berdan in the lead at mile 12. Check twitter for my photo. Haven't seen him in ten years.

Dave Berdan is rolling nicely through the streets of Baltimore. On pace for a sub-2:30 (he is not crushing it due to Philly and fitness).

Go Dave!

I am one of those so called african. Let me tell you something, I work 40h/w in a hospital, 15-20 at a running store, train a little and I have a family.

It happens that some other time I win races, I've been in this country for more than 10years and I speak six languages.

The other day, I went to a small local race as I arrived, the announcer was talking about a local white guy that they were proud of, they invited him and he's an ultra-trail runner. It was a half marathon, people would look at me while I was warming up and i could hear some of them saying...oh i think we got a kenyan, we screwed!

Before the gun went off, i shook hands with other runners and wished them good luck.

As I took off I realized after 1k, I was all by myself so I decided to ease up and wait for the local guy. Finally, i heard a whistling sound wheezing behind me, he caught up and I asked him what time he would love to hit, he gave me a number and I paced him for more or take about 19km so he could achieve his goal, 2k remaining I made a little move on him to make him work harder, I managed to keep him motivated.

800 to 400m to go, people were shouting to the ''local'' guy...come on man you can get that kenyan, I won the race with a 15sec lead. For me it was a double victory as he ran faster than the time he wanted and i won a friendship!

Guess what not a single journalist came to talk with me. After 30min, I went for a cooldown encouraging people that were finishing, i went to thank some of the volunteers for all the work they do! I stayed there to cheer for the youngsters and talked to them not to go too fast before their race...I guess just like a normal ''local'' guy should.

But stereotypes man, people only see the color and think i am different then don't speak their language...funny thing is that if you want stories, you can get them...I was on a night shift and it was crazy at the hospital. Working at hospital doesn't feel like a job to me cause I am there for people...so after a crazy night that run was like peace of mind. Everyone has his reasons why he runs. I don't think a 500$ changes any thing for an organization that can collect 300,000$ in entry fees only.

Every runner has a story of his or her, it's just plain lazy journalism...anything that gets roads to close in the city always get fierce media attention. The most-ill thought out is that africans are in there for the money, that's like saying americans are racists right? I root for local runners to get more and more competitive, the more the better, instead of cutting the elites or prize money, work on how to get those kids interested. It's not only about running fast, it's about discipline in your training, desire to constantly raise the bar, respect, self transcendence, generosity, sportsmanship, friendship, etc.

Good story

Thanks for the great post kimbia!

Most of the "c-level" Africans I've meet have been total class acts and are usually a great addition to a local running scene. In high school our team would launch our offseason weekend long runs from a locale used by some of the local clubs in the area and the African guys were always amazing at giving training advice and would sometimes even do part of their run with us. Those were always great experiences for the stories they'd tell and was a big part in developing my enjoyment of the sport.

With this issue we need to stop looking at it like prize money attracts Africans. Instead its that prize money attracts good runners! Getting beat by good runners is simply that: getting beat by good runners regardless of nationality. Kimbia is right about journalists not going up the Africans but how often do the top local guys go up to them either? Instead of complaining about regional Africans 'invading' any races with prize money, why don't we go talk to them, ask about their training so we can become better runners ourselves to win that prize money.

Also congrats Dave on the well deserved win today! Class act and great member of the Baltimore (running) community.

Dave Berdan for the win.

This thread has been an interesting discussion. Some races have tried the prize money thing and given it up. The Flying Pig marathon stopped doing a purse years ago. Akron used to give out much more, now a $2,500 1st place attracted a sub 2:16 finish in 2013. Both of the first place finisher required translators, for what is worth. I remember reading an article on the race director of the Green Bay marathon, who felt it was "a duty" to have prize money (see link below).

Random Fool wrote:

So Under armour drops out as sponsor as they lose the prize money? They claim they have 27,000 people participating plus plenty of other sponsors. They couldn't come up with 10K prize money for that. A local turkey trot in catonsville came up with 3K prize money for this year.

I think this is the most interesting topic in this thread. I saw this posted on facebook the other day too. Some local 10k I've never heard of found a local beneficiary to put up $3000 for prize money, while Baltimore can't find a dime to put up? I haven't read much about it but I'm assuming the local race will have less than 500 entrants (less than 2.5% of Baltimore entrants), cost 25% of what any of the entry fees for Baltimore Run fest are, and yet they were able to get almost one-third of the prize money that Baltimore was seeking. The numbers are illogical to me as to how they couldn't find a benefactor, 1 additional dollar on top of registration alone would have far exceeded their prize purse. What they are charging for expo booth fees I can't imagine no one was willing to put up the money. Leave it to Corrigan to pull a Competitor and neglect the actual runners.

kimbiaulimwengu wrote:

I am one of those so called african. Let me tell you something, I work 40h/w in a hospital, 15-20 at a running store, train a little and I have a family.

...Every runner has a story of his or her, it's just plain lazy journalism...anything that gets roads to close in the city always get fierce media attention. The most-ill thought out is that africans are in there for the money, that's like saying americans are racists right? I root for local runners to get more and more competitive, the more the better, instead of cutting the elites or prize money, work on how to get those kids interested. It's not only about running fast, it's about discipline in your training, desire to constantly raise the bar, respect, self transcendence, generosity, sportsmanship, friendship, etc.

So you're saying you're "rooting for other runners", work at a running store, etc., yet you go to a race and no one knows who you are, not even the other competition? How is this possible? Most everyone in my State/Region knows who the sub-elites/elites are. You're not doing anything to promote yourself and the sport, if no one knows who you are.

Furthermore, you're working 2 jobs and just won a road race with prize money- who are you kidding that you and other Africans aren't here for the money? You're probably sending money home to your African family too.

How dare he work hard to support his family. And accepting prize money on top of that? Positively unamerican.

The numbers aren't illogical. You just don't know what the word illogical means. Regarding costs, just for starters, perhaps things cost more in Baltimore than they do in the other town. Does it cost more to shut down 26 miles of NYC than rural Mississippi? I don't know but a sensible person would hold back judgment until you actually see the numbers.

Good run Dave. Question, though... are those splits from 5.7 miles off? It says online that a ton of guys went out at sub-2:20 pace, but by halfway, Dave was well clear of everyone despite slowing down a fair amount.

hhg wrote:

The numbers aren't illogical. You just don't know what the word illogical means. Regarding costs, just for starters, perhaps things cost more in Baltimore than they do in the other town. Does it cost more to shut down 26 miles of NYC than rural Mississippi? I don't know but a sensible person would hold back judgment until you actually see the numbers.

Are you sure about that? We're not talking about operating costs, we're talking about sponsored prize money. What does police and permit fees have to do with a sponsored good?

Catonsville is a town in the Baltimore suburbs. I've never heard of this turkey trot until the other day and they found a local business to put up $3000 cash for top runners, and are further going to donate $50 gift cards for each age group winner.

If you want to talk about costs...you're right, I'm sure closing 26 miles of Baltimore City streets is significantly more expensive than having a 5/10k run through some county neighborhoods. And I'm sure both events also probably have a similar break-even point to their total % of runners to capacity. And when your event is more established and has higher entrance fees your bound to have a higher ROI (ie. Baltimore Running Festival if you haven't been able to keep up). Regardless, if it's sponsored prize money I don't understand what it has to do with "numbers".

I think a sensible person would also be able to figure out simple math that if you average having 20,000 participants and want to have 10k in prize money, you can charge an additional 50 cents in registration to cover that expense.

Xfit_guy_the_real_one_1 wrote:

superior genetics and you can tell it takes quite a bit of training (read: sprinting) to get to that kind of physique:

Sorry little kid. But that dog has a genetic defect and she's gonna die soon.

Yes the 5.7 splits are way off. I ran the half and it had me at 1:21 pace when I went out around 1:25 pace, not sure where it went wrong.

Ryan McGrath is in the business of promoting Ryan McGrath. A washed up has been runner who gets off on pretending he's friends w the elite runners

0 under 2:30, 10 under 2:50

http://www.thebaltimoremarathon.com/Results___Tracking/Results_2013.htm

Looks like the race organizers are leaving it up to any future title sponsor whether or not an elite purse comes back:

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2013/10/14/corrigan-reflects-on-this-years.html

It would be awesome if someone would step in and actually INCREASE the money to make it a deeper/higher level race, but just wishful thinking, I know..

also, you clearly don't know Ryan McGrath.