Prize Money/How long to receive from race?

from my experience about 5 minutes - usually an envelope with your thropy at the awards ceremony.

I just passed the 4 week mark for my last prize money race.

I agree that they should hand you a check when you finish, but that's very rare. I would start emailing the race director after about a month, just to make sure "it wasn't lost in the mail." I concider that a nice form of harassment.

So if someone cuts the course and finishes the race ahead of you and takes the prize immediately after they finish, you would be all for that? Race directors wait for official results for a reason.

"...you would be all for that?"

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Yes, Yes I would.

Going on 2 months for the Lasalle Bank Detroit Zoo run.

some chick wrote:

I just passed the 4 week mark for my last prize money race.

I agree that they should hand you a check when you finish, but that's very rare. I would start emailing the race director after about a month, just to make sure "it wasn't lost in the mail." I concider that a nice form of harassment.

Hey baby, c'mon over here and lets work out a little trade. I give bonus money if you swallow!

Any advice from the elite?

How much are we talking?

Did you have to take a drug test? I won money once in the old Wendys Classic and they had to wait for all drug tests to come back before sending out the checks.

Joeseph good job at that race!

The Roc

I work for a race that awards prize money, $1600 for the win down to $200 for 6th, plus top 3 masters plus top in-state finisher. It takes us about 2 weeks, if there are no extenuating circumstances, to get a check out the door. In that time we confirm the prize winners hit all the checkpoints (unannounced chip mats and video to review). We also take time to check out any claims made that could DQ a racer. For example, this year a couple days after the race one of our escort bikers came into our office and mentioned that the 2nd place female runner was being paced and receiving fluids from a "coach". Because we didn't find out right on raceday we had to gather the technical staff together to make a decision. In this case we decided not to change the results because our bikers had not been trained in what is acceptable and what is not. We felt that the same thing could have happened with other runners and it wasn't fair to penalize the one who was caught for something we hadn't done a good job of educating our escorts. (That will be corrected for 2006).

We've been around for 17 years. We've had 2 instances where prize money winners were not who they claimed to be (unauthorized bib swaps). Once was the 2nd place female, once was the masters winner. In both cases the bibs had been assigned to masters runners who decided not to run and sold/gave their race number to a non-masters runner. Because of those instances we quadruple check all prize money winners now to confirm they are who they say they are.

Also, many medium->large size races have their checks processed by an outside service. That's our case which means that no matter how quickly we confirm that all is kosher with the prize money winners we can't get checks processed until Fridays.

The thing that holds payments up the most, in my experience, is a lack of a USATF number. #2 is the inability to contact a prize winner due to a phone number that doesn't connect to where that person is located right after the race.

Then again, some races seem to just not make it a priority to meet their obligations in this area. I'd say a month is the edge of reasonable, especially if the athletes are contacting the race office trying to get what they've earned.

joerunner,

My check did take awhile, but it did arrive several weeks ago. I had to complete a tax form and return it. Did you receive that (1099, I believe)? If not, contact the race by phone (248) 541-5717 x4 and explain. If you did, call to be sure it was received by the correct person.

6 months for Columbus, they kept asking If I could be compensated with free entries for the next 5 years instead of a check. Mike Collins is the cheapest.

I contacted Julie (race director as I was told) for the third time Friday, November 11th. She said she would get back to me next week because her contact at LaSalle Bank is out until next week. She told me a month ago that she would notify her contact person at LaSalle Bank, but I never heard anything back from her. I asked for her contact person so I could handle it directly, but she refused to give me the name or number. I kind of feeling I'm being jerked around. Who did you talk to? Thanks for any help.

:)

I just got one that was two months old. Depends on the race. Some races are on the spot (thank you) and some races take months, I've heard of some others that never pay up. Reasonable I would think would be about two weeks.

Send me an e-mail. I may have some information for you, but am curious whether you received the tax form or not.

Your sorry ass won money. Can you tell us all where we can find this easy cash?