Ben Bruce marathon wins???? Please explain

You have to show up to win first of all. Not sure what the prize money is but many or most of the athletes with agents won't show up without appearance money/guarantees. On those days, Ben Bruce was the best. Every race has other runners that "could have" won but they didn't. The races are well publicized, nobody can say they didn't hear of them. I find much more often it's the women's races are being won in sub par performances with people in the same city doing training runs that would have won but didn't show up.

$500 long run at Vegas, elite athlete perks (entry, hotel, probably just drove this time from Flagstaff), possibly an appearance fee, and maybe media bonuses from Adidas (I don't know if he's still with Adidas, but if so they may have incentives like matching prize earnings). I don't know why more elites don't do marathons as "workouts"/part of training. You're not going to get the Africans to show up cause them/their agents chase bigger bucks.

http://cdn.runrocknroll.competitor.com/files/2014/01/prize-money-las-vegas-2014.pdf

Here's other elite athlete info on RnR event:

http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/elite-athlete-program

clearly a doctorate is not needed to see that Mr Bruce is a) getting paid to do hard training runs, b) getting to see some new cities and, c) keeping his name in the news and reaching new fans which makes him all the more marketable. People can relate to a guy who has a kid, and he's not a household name so this is a great way to connect with a much larger audience, ala KG, LF, & others. I imagine RnR is also paying him a little extra, but it's not much, you can be sure of that. regardless, smart move by mr Bruce.

Bruce earned $500 for winning the race, along with a substantial bonus from adidas, his sponsor.

Bruce's wife is quoted later in the article --.says he did this because they needed the money, specifically to pay hospital bills.

Article also states that he got a substantial bonus from Adidas.

Ben Bruce has some sort of angle with adidas and RocknRoll. For every win, he receives a couple thousand dollars above the nominal prize money. There is no appearance fee for these events. Ben has whored it out in the marathon this year, the last of his contract with adidas, instead of choosing to go for the bigger prize money at an event like the US marathon champs. Personal choice, perhaps motivated by the need for cash on hand.

Ben & his wife are both trying to make it as pro runners. They just had their first kid and his wife struggled with sickness for the last few years until being diagnosed with Celiac disease. I'm sure their attempts to help diagnose her racked up some high medical expenses. Add a kid on top as well as the fact that they are both in a low-paying job market as runners, then it's no surprise that Ben is running the Rock and Roll marathon circuit, and I support and applaud his tenacity.

Word on the streets is, adidas pays him $8,000-$10,000 for winning each R&R marathon.

I actually heard it was $5000 for a RnR win... Don;t forget he also ran the Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon in MN as well: http://www.marathonguide.com/results/browse.cfm?MIDD=4712141011&Gen=B&Begin=1&End=100&Max=182

The RnR strategy benefits US runners. Low prize money discourages Africans, yet the circuit enables low profile Americans to build same status through personal sponsorship. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the RnR series strengthen American marathon running considerably over the next five years in a way that the Majors either can't or won't.

not even close, on both the "$5000" for Rnr and "$10K" from three stripes, but there's a little extra, enough to make it worth while but nothing in that ballpark. Pretty funny though that there's another sub 3hr marathoner in the US named Ben Bruce. Wonder if they'll send him a free case of picky bars just for having a cool name?

wordOntheStreet234 wrote:

I actually heard it was $5000 for a RnR win... Don;t forget he also ran the Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon in MN as well:

http://www.marathonguide.com/results/browse.cfm?MIDD=4712141011&Gen=B&Begin=1&End=100&Max=182

Ghost of Christmas yet to come wrote:The RnR strategy benefits US runners. Low prize money discourages Africans, yet the circuit enables low profile Americans to build same status through personal sponsorship. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the RnR series strengthen American marathon running considerably over the next five years in a way that the Majors either can't or won't.

Fully in agreement.

a friend of a friend of bruce wrote:

not even close, on both the "$5000" for Rnr and "$10K" from three stripes, but there's a little extra, enough to make it worth while but nothing in that ballpark. Pretty funny though that there's another sub 3hr marathoner in the US named Ben Bruce. Wonder if they'll send him a free case of picky bars just for having a cool name?

wordOntheStreet234 wrote:

I actually heard it was $5000 for a RnR win... Don;t forget he also ran the Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon in MN as well:

http://www.marathonguide.com/results/browse.cfm?MIDD=4712141011&Gen=B&Begin=1&End=100&Max=182

I know $5 - 10k is chump change for Adidas, but what economic benefit does Adidas get out of giving that much money per race?

especially when Ben Bruce isn't that well known, and even runners who are well known probably dont boost shoe sales that much.

Is Adidas giving the money just to be nice?

From chatting with a big gun from another shoe company I can tell you that shoe companies like runners who run marathons especially if they're willing to mingle afterwards. It's good PR in front of what are usually good sized crowds.

Is THE BRUCE wearing THE BOOOOOOOST??!??!?