While professional running is nowhere near as lucrative or as famous as other professional sports, it still exists and is the pinnacle for those extra competitive people. Most pros begin by dominating the scene in which they reside. For most it is the college running scene, but recently there have been a few who have went pro straight out of high school. The most famous of which is Mary Cain, the New York star who set high school records like it was nothing. She started the “trend” of turning pro out of high school and ended up paying the price for it. The rigorous training was so rough on her young body that she began to decline in performance. She is still running professionally, but has relocated back to her hometown and is taking a slower approach to her running.
The world of pro running is slowly on the rise with more and more television channels and shoe brands picking up interest in the sport. The athletes have a series of meets known as the Diamond League which take place all over the world from New York to Shanghai. Winning a race in this series will net you points for your event and if you have the most at the end of the season you win a large sum of money and are crowned the diamond league champion.
Most shoe contracts that the runners receive have a lower salary than almost all the other professional sports, except for a few very famous athletes. Ashton Eaton, who owns the decathlon world record, got a six figure bonus on top of his salary when he set the world record. Others such as Allyson Felix, Matt Centrowitz, and Galen Rupp are very marketable by USATF. USA Track and Field is the governing body of track and field in the United States and has most of their competitions broadcast on NBC Sports. As glamourous as it may seem, the word professional doesn’t automatically mean you will become a millionaire off of your sport.
I can't believe professional runners get paid so much less than other professional athletes when it's just as hard and competitive, if not more, than other sports. That seems so unfair to me.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said " These runners want something more than a time to be proud of, they want to race against the best of the best and see who can come out on top." I never thought of it like this but you are so right. I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably very disappointing to professional runners that they work so hard to get better and faster and they don't make as much money as other professional athletes.
ReplyDeleteWhat was your goal in running? Are you thinking about becoming a professional athlete? If so, are you staying a Indiana Campus to help other people?
ReplyDeleteMy goal was and still is to run under 2 minutes for a half mile. I ran 2:04 my senior year of high school. I want to become one someday, but for now I just want to make the IUP cross country and track teams.
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