Money can be a mighty motivator, and that's why organizers of the annual Mayor's Marathon and Half-Marathon have dangled a cash carrot in front of elite runners.
The 2011 race in Anchorage, set for June 18, will reward any runner who clocks a course record in either the women's or men's marathon with a $5,000 cash prize. A course record in the half-marathon will earn the record-breaker a $1,000 cash prize.
Organizers hope the new incentives will boost the quality of the elite fields and heighten excitement for an event that also includes a marathon relay, 5.6-mile race and Youth Cup, and drew nearly 4,000 participants last summer.
"I just thought, 'This is the right thing to do and the right time to do it,' " said race director Michael Friess. "We want to create excitement, like this is a big deal, not a normal weenie roast.
"We're putting on a race. People can look at it and say, 'Hey, I'll invest a winter and a spring, and lay my ears back and go for it.' There needs to be that drive, that incentive, to do it."
The Mayor's Marathon and Half-Marathon is organized by UAA -- Friess is the school's cross-country running and track coach -- and the city.
The Mayor's Marathon course records are formidable, particularly on the women's side.
Olympic marathon Chris Clark of Anchorage in 2002 broke her own course record in the 26.2-miler by clocking 2 hours, 38 minutes, 19 seconds, which shattered her 1999 mark by 6:30.
"That's really one of the best records of any kind we have up here,'' Friess said. "You've got to be a stud to run that. You really do.''
Clark owns the three fastest times in race history. The only other woman to crack the 2:50 barrier at Mayor's was Najeeby Quinn, who won the 2004 race in 2:49:32.
The men's record at Mayor's is Michael Wisniewski's 2:22:29, set in 2009. That performance finally knocked Friess out of the record books -- his 2:24:44 had stood since 1987.
The race's half-marathon records are no easy marks. UAA All-America senior Marko Cheseto last summer blazed the course in 1:07:47. The women's half-marathon course record, Kristi Waythomas' 1:18:41, has stood since 1993.