Wade cashed in by crossing the finish line

Masters distance runners are starting to see nice paydays

HIGH JUMP 7 FEET AT AGE 40, AND YOU WON'T MAKE A NICKEL. Fling a discus 200 feet at 50? Don't expect one thin dime. But Masters athletes who run the roads -- from a mile to the marathon -- can make a pretty penny.

Recent examples include the USA Masters 10k championships April 26 in Austin, Texas, and the Medtronic Twin Cities 1 Mile race May 8 in Minneapolis. In both cases, purses were powerful draws. "Rewarding the top Masters for their achievements and hard work is awesome," says Colleen De Reuck, 44, a four-time Olympian from Boulder, Colo., who won the Austin women's race of 6.2 miles in 34 minutes, 17 seconds -- and pocketed $4,500. "I don't want to sound like a money grabber; however, that is how I get my income right now, so being rewarded for running well is OK and nothing to be ashamed of."

Austin offered a purse of $34,300 for Masters racers -- from $3,000 to first place down to $150 for 10th -- plus extra cash for being among the top-10 age-graded finishers. Kathryn Martin, 56, of Northport, N.Y., was No. 8 overall (worth $300) in 39:26, but she added $2,000 by being the top woman on the age-graded tables -- a means of comparing athletes of different generations.

Houston's Sean Wade, 42, won the men's race in 31:15 and said, "If there was no money involved in the race, I probably would not have shown up. Running is like a second job, so I really try to pick races that go out of their way to offer prize money to us old folks."

Wade, who coaches for living, says he races 10 to 15 times a year -- but not always for money, noting: "I went to the USA cross country championships in San Diego and that cost almost $750 for that weekend" in mid-February. He won there as well.

Professional trumpet player Nolan Shaheed, 58, of Pasadena noted that he wouldn't have made the trip to Austin (where he was fifth in the age-graded list) without the cash lure. "I had a stomach virus a week before and during Austin, but I ran anyway," says Shaheed, a two-time USATF Masters Athlete of the Year. "I don't run too many money races a year and $500 (his Austin winnings) is the most I've ever made as a Masters."

Danny Martinez, 46, a special education teacher from Alhambra, Calif. won $1,750 in combined prizes at Austin and sees the money as a teachable moment:

"It's always nice to come home to my kids and show them there was some reward for all the training," Martinez says. "If possible, I try to show them the check, then splurge on the family. Hopefully, they'll see a connection between sacrifice and reward."

His biggest pay day?

"The most I've earned in a Masters competition was $7,800," he says.

Another teacher -- Texas high school track coach Jody Hawkins -- barely made it to Austin from a regional prep meet in Denton, driving down to Austin at 1 a.m. and getting up at 5:30 a.m. for the 10K. She took second behind De Reuck in 36:26 and collected a total of $2,700 in prize money.

"The ($2,700) is the most I've earned at one time as a masters, a far cry from the $40K a year I would make as an open," Hawkins said. "Those were the days, but these days aren't half-bad either."

In fact, the prize for the top masters prize may go to the Boston Marathon -- where the top Masters finishers this year -- Gino Van Geyte, 41, of Belgium and Firaya Sultanova-Zhdanova, 47, of Russia, each won $10,000.

But even small prizes count.

At the 1 Mile Race down a Minneapolis mall, Alisa Harvey, 42, of Manassas, Va., and David Wik, 41, of Monticello, Minn., each won $750. But Harvey's time of 5:15 and Wik's 4:48 look better this way: She ran at the rate of $8,570 an hour, and Wik at $9,370 an hour.

Said Austin runner-up Hawkins: "To be over 40, healthy, fit and fast is a lot harder than it may look.  We may be older, and a bit slower than our younger racing selves, but I guarantee we still train and race just as hard."