GRAND PRIX STANDINGS AT MIDSEASON
It is interesting to see where the runners stand in the USATF-NJ New Balance long distance running grand prix.
In 2006 a somewhat controversial and experimental change to the prize money payout was made by the Long Distance Running committee. What would happen if the ante was upped for the top placing runners overall? Offer the best runners in the state the chance to win one thousand dollars if you came out on top.
What happens if you throw a party and no one comes? Not that the runners who collected the top prizes were nobodies. They were certainly top caliber people. Ben Reynolds, who while in the US from the United Kingdom, lives with his wife and family in Chatham and Jeanne Pare, the fastest medical doctor in New Jersey from Mendham won the thousand dollars in 2006. But both those runners were masters - the best masters in the state, yes, but where were the top open, or prime-of-career athletes? They didn't show.
One has to wonder if money is no longer an incentive for elite runners. The 2007 prize structure has been whittled down to five hundred for first, three hundred for second and two hundred and fifty for third. Can family and career obligations be taking those elite runners away from competition? Or is the money too small, even at one thousand dollars as it was in 2006 and now five hundred in 2007? When I spoke with an elite runner some while back, he told me that most of the men in his group made a good income in their careers and they were not motivated by money.
The USATF-NJ grand prix requires a runner to compete in at least nine races and six of those races need to be championships, thus narrowing the window. If a runner cannot make the XYZ Championship, he may have lost his chance to be competitive for the entire year. The Long Distance Running committee makes every attempt to provide a range of championship races and it is this scheduling that is part of the process when the committee decides in November which races will be chosen to host championships in the next year.
But the fact remains that a runner must make a commitment early in the season to find those nine races in order to win the top prize. Going to a couple of big races may earn the elite runner as much as going to those nine races.
In contrast, the over age forty racers appear to have more time to race and they appear to enjoy the chase much more. Competition between the top runners in each age group is often fierce and the point spread very close.
As of the latest posting of the grand prix, which was July 19, there are nine men who are over age forty in the top ten. Two of them are over fifty, and from this area. Charlie Slaughter of Parsippany is standing in second place while Will DeRoberts of Boonton is in tenth.
In the women's division there are five women over age forty and also two who are over fifty. Morris County area women are well represented in this group with Diane Ross of Flanders, W35, leading, with Pam Fales of Boonton, W45, second. Jane Parks of Morristown, who is in the W50 division, is in fourth and Karyn Layton, W35, of Rockaway is seventh.
It appears that the current plan has not had the desired effect, which was to entice the open elite runners to the grand prix. If that were the case, the top ten would all be in the 20 to 38 or 39 age range.
Couldn't that top prize money be put to better use rewarding those who are competing in the age divisions? Perhaps it is time to return to the prize structure that was in effect before 2006, where the top overall winner received a one hundred dollar bonus above what he or she won in the age division. Spread around that $2,100.00 that is now going to the top three overall and reward all of the age divisions. If the grand prix is being heavily supported by masters runners, then pay them the money.
The Long Distance Running Committee meeting is taking place on Monday, September 10th in Bedminster at 7:30 pm.
CLARIFICATION:
Readers could be excused for scratching their head about the discrepancy between Richard Hill of Middletown, age 70, finishing his Steeplechase race in 10:01.19 at the USATF National Masters Championships, as was related in last week's column, while Randy Miller of Montville, age 45, finished his in 11:57.17.
How could Miller finish nearly two minutes slower than Hill? Had to be a typo right? No. The time was right, but the distance that the Men 45 group did was 3,000 meters while the Men 70 group did 2,000 meters. My apologize to Miller for not making that clear.
Originally published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey on Sunday, August 19,, 2007
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2007
