The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old

I talked to their RD back in the fall, gauging their interest in the circuit. It seemed to me that the prize money they gave out last year put them in a financial hole. They did it as a "gesture of good faith" for the community, seeing that the race had a pretty bad reputation at that point. But it wasn't sustainable for them (which is understandable).

I think the money for the half is fair... the marathon winner should really get $1K to stay on par w/ the other marathons in the state. And getting rid of master's money is not fair at all.

Yep, I'd agree with that. If a marathon wants to survive it needs to attract some talent. Competition is waht makes a marathon. I always wondered why Bob Henke, the director of the TOU, paid so much in a little marathon. Even one that cannot grow since it's size limited. He said last year that he felt you just had to create a runners race, and the rest always fell together. He's never recruited guys.

That's why TOU (the half and full) are among my favorite races. Bob and his whole crew really make it a runner's race.

SLC is going to struggle attracting really fast runners... they'll get decent competition in the half, but not a lot of 2:20-2:30 guys are going to choose that race anymore.

The Salt Lake Marathon is making it really easy for me to continue my boycott.

Sad because I really liked that race.

I met your brother yesterday at the kids' swim meet, nice guy!

What is the new prize money for SLC full and half? I couldn't find it on their site anywhere. That's too bad they've lowered it and removed the master's money. After last year I was hoping that would become a huge race in the state for elites. I love the course.

500-250-125 for the half and the full

Thanks for the quick reply Jake. I assume it's just overall now too and no resident money right? Like you said earlier that's still great prize money for the half, but kind of weak for a full. And they should have master's money still.

BUT, two years ago SLC had medals for overall winners in full and half, so glass half full this is still better than that.

Beat the awards from the Utah FITTEST STATE marathon! Medals w/ ribbons of all different colors!

Look on the bottom of the SLC Marathon main page. In size 3 font, there is a link to the "elite" info. Apparently a 1:15 half marathon is an equivalent performance to a 2:30 full!

I think the network here at work is cutting out some pf the website's page. Because the bottom half is just blank (nothing shows up under that adidas logo); maybe that's why I couldn't find the prize money info.

But of course 1:15 half is same as 2:30, you just double it right? No problem.

My computer does the same thing Riley. It's a website problem. I had to get it off my mobile app.

I understand the back and forth on Masters money. After all, who really cares? A race is a race. Kind of like the age grouping thing. I know I'll get a lot of flack from some on that, but I don't really care what the other guys are running age group wise. I want to run with the guys racing the race. But like anyone, I'd like a hobby that pays for itself and if a race has masters money I'll choose it over the one that doesn't. I think race directors also forget that a lot of runners choose marathons based on the fastest average times. If they have enough money the race times will go down. Then they can get more entries and raise entry fees. Look at the Carlsbad 5000. Crappy 5k course, two 180 turns around a cone and multiple 90s, but still the record holder. Realistically money matters.

Jeff, almost missed your message buried in there! He told me that last night. he met "the Legend". :-)

I agree Steve. The masses end up following elites and elites follow the money. It's hard to find a bigtime race that doesn't offer good cash and still draws very large crowds (unless it's Disney!)

Look at local marathons...STG, UVM, Ogden, and TOU get crowds and all offer great prizes (and Des News too). Then you have Layton, Sojo, Utah Marathon, Morgan, etc. that don't offer big prize money and struggle to get participants.

I got the following Facebook message from the SLC Marathon about my question they deleted. Pretty good of them to reply, I think.

Salt Lake City Marathon

Steve, The five year plan for the event will be to raise the amount of money that we offer for the Elite Runners and build in additional dollars for local elites. Unfortunately this year we were faced with some tough financial decisions and decided to make raising the overall quality of the event as a priority. As we continue to rebuild this event and ensure it is an incredible experience for all runners we have made large investments in course design, medals, music, tech shirts, hydration stations, food and logistics. The elite program is something we will definitely be expanding in the future, this year we need to focus resources in other aspects of the race.

..

That seems pretty fair to me. I guess its better to gradually build up the event... rather than do what they used to do - offer TONS of prize money (and then never pay it)