Money and Distance Running
Reading through a variety of articles this morning, I came across two fascinating pieces that tell a lot about our sport. The first is a piece on Kenenisa Bekele, the world’s greatest distance runner, breaking down how much he made this year from competition. Bekele, who races fairly often during the track season, earned just over $1.1 million this year. The second article is a good insiders view to life as a good, but not superstar, American distance runner in Brett Gotcher, who won $8,000 for winning the U.S. 20k Road Championships this past weekend.
Bekele’s article didn’t surprise me, except for the fact that over half of his $1.1 million came from appearance fees, which to me is simply ridiculous. It will forever boggle my mind that athletes get paid simply to show up at a meet that they should be competing in anyways. The fact that Bekele gets somewhere around four to five times more just for showing up rather than his winning performance makes me sick, and shows EXACTLY why our sport will never, ever be as big as it could be.
Gotcher’s article was a little more insightful, noting that the $8k he won is basically as much as he makes working a job in Flagstaff, which is his only source of income at the moment. To me, this shows the lack of exposure for our athletes, and just how little money is out there in road racing. Road racing is the most lucrative part of our sport, and yet Gotcher only gets $8k for winning a national championship? It’s sad, and I hope something can be done to change this.
Reading about athlete’s income and earnings is intriguing. It sheds more light on the reason why these athletes run. They want to make money, make their careers in this sport. A lot of people romanticize distance running, but at the end of the day the best in the U.S. and the best in the world all want the same thing…to make enough money to live the lifestyle they desire.
Last 5 posts by Scott Bush- An Idea: A Road Race Circuit (Part II) - December 10th, 2008
- An Idea: A Road Race Circuit (Part I) - December 3rd, 2008
- Who Should Be the Face of Our Sport? - June 4th, 2008
- Welcome to the Internet Age - April 7th, 2008
- Robinson v. Symmonds, Now We Need More - February 26th, 2008