Poor attendance for Maratón de la Marina

The marathon run this last weekend apparently was very poorly attended. This is according to an article in the local newspaper which came out the day after the marathon. There were, reportedly, over 200 runners. To me, it seemed that there were a good number of runners. This an opinion coming from one who has never been to a marathon before.

The reason cited was that the purse was too small. People did not want to travel for such a small purse. Which makes me wonder…what is a good purse for a local marathon? This year’s purse was supposedly smaller than in the past. Here is a short breakdown of the numbers.

First place overall: $20,000 Mex Pesos which is about $1,800 USD.
First place for the first Yucatecan: $10,000 Mex Pesos, $900 USD.

This is in addition to the age category money. For example (men and women had the same amount per category):
Open (19-29): $8,000 MP, $720 USD
Sub-Master (30-39): $5,000 MP, $450 USD
Master (40-??): $4,000 MP, $360 USD

So it was possible to be first overall, first Yucatecan and first in the Open category and bring home $38,000 MP, or approximately $3,420 USD.

It only cost $50 pesos ($4.50 USD) to enter the race.

I think that the fact that it was 84 degrees with 84% humidity when the winners crossed the finish line may have more to do with the low attendance than the money to be earned. Most people go into a marathon to finish it, not to win it. But when the heat is up, people will stay away from a race. Grant it, most of the locals are used to running in this heat. But people don’t want to travel and be subjected to this.

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