An amateur *did* win the Boston marathon in 2018, managing to handle the bad weather a bit better than the pros.
(I think he may be listed as a professional runner now, but at the time he still had a full time office job)
Really inspiring to see. Not like in my anecdote where it was just couple spectators trying to invade and show they could do better than the athletes.
2:02?
6 if you go under 2:03.
Yuki Kawauchi, the Japanese mailman, and he has indeed turned professional since winning Boston in 2018. He was a serious amateur marathoner when he won, and ran a thoroughly impressive 2:15:58. But with no disrespect to his effort, his victory was a fluke, occasioned by the cold wind and rain that made a lot of professional runners drop out. Had conditions been more typical, he likely would have finished well back from the podium, though probably top amateur. Like he did the next year, when he finished 17th, even though he was 29 seconds faster at 2:15:29. Interestingly, the 18th place man ran 2:15:58, exactly the same time that had won Kawauchi the race the previous year.
Parenthetically, I learned something from Kawauchi. After watching the unorthodox way he let his arms flop around while he ran (to keep his shoulders and upper body relaxed and loose), I started consciously relaxing my own shoulders and neck during runs. I’m not nearly a good enough runner for it to make a difference to my times, but it does make for a more comfortable run. So thank you, Yuki.
How does he make money as a professional? Is it all sponsorships?
And prize money.
Sponsorships and purses - prestigious races like the marathon majors (Boston, Chicago, Berlin, New York, London) and shorter ones like the Peachtree Road Race, the Bolder Boulder, or the Fifth Avenue Mile can pay total purses of $30,000 and up. Kiptum took home a $25,000 check for his win at Chicago, while Boston champions get a whopping $150,000.
There are incidentals, as well. Nike provides their athletes with shoes and sportswear, travel expenses, and sometimes room and board. The chairman of Ineos, who sponsored Eliud Kipchoge’s successful attempt to go below two hours, flew the runner from Kenya to Vienna in his private jet.
ETA: Ninja’d by running_coach. Told you I’m slow.
I don’t think “he” referred to Kiptum. If he = Kawauchi, it seems prize money is going to be irrelevant to making a career out of it. Boston apparently only pays out to the 10th place (and only $5500). I’m not sure about other races, but if 17th is about what he expects, Kawauchi probably earns almost nothing from prize money.
eta Probably should have checked his wikipedia. He has a lot of wins. Let me pick a year and see what sorts of prize money he would have gotten.
But you provided quality details.
Pretty much the way I run - not fast, but I cover the ground.
In 2023
So, that’s not a huge help since it doesn’t look like the Japanese sites prominently display their prize money. Not a lot though.
As a wag I would think given his unlikely victory at Boston he should be a minor celeb in Japan (and perhaps other places) and should make a pretty penny just endorsing products.
Yes, I knew hajario was referring to Kawauchi – I was generalizing to pro track athletes en masse.
My WAG (and that’s all it is) is that “professional”, in this context, simply means “has a sponsorship from a shoe/clothing/nutrition/whatever company”, whether or not that provides enough to pay the bills. Some elites, I know, have side jobs – ultramarathoner Kilian Jornet recently started a shoe/outdoor wear company. Des Linden and her husband Ryan have a coffee roasting business (although that may be more of a passion project). Sarah Sellars, the amateur who came finished second in that eventful 2018 Boston Marathon, turned pro but still works as a radiology nurse in Utah. When I was Googling this question, I found an article that said that Kawauchi still has a government job in Japan. Eliud Kipchoge owns a farm back home in Kenya.
Keep in mind as well that a lot of the top distance runners in the world come from East Africa. A $5,000 purse goes a lot farther in Ethiopia or Kenya than in the U.S. or Europe.
If you’re good enough to belong to a shoe company’s dedicated training group – like Nike’s Oregon Project, or Hoka’s NAZ Elite team in Arizona – you’re set, for as long as your with the team; the sponsor will provide room, board, travel expenses, medical care, and, of course, shoes and clothing. But if you’re just a mid-tier elite, you’re probably pinching pennies. This article in Runner’s World was written during the pandemic, but has some interesting insights in how professional runners pay their bills.