Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007 | 6:59 a.m.
SOME ADVICE FOR THE LONG RUN
Ron Kantowski on how to ensure that this year the winners are paid promptly. Click Here
An experienced marathoner calls for changes in the who, when and where of the race. Click Here
PURSE COMPARISON
$164 K: Las Vegas Marathon
$600 K: New York City Marathon
COURSE MAP
Click here to see a map of the 2007 Las Vegas Marathon Course.
At least for the first few miles of Sunday's Las Vegas Marathon, serious distance runners will be pounding the pavement and banging elbows with runners dressed as Elvis and couples taking part in the world's only run-through wedding chapel.
Hey, it's Vegas.
As the race wears on, however, a handful of elite runners will outrace the craziness as they compete for more prize money than the marathon has ever offered - $164,000, a 26 percent jump from last year.
If spectators lining the streets are confused, they might have good reason. They will see a race that has the appearance of a 26.2-mile fun run - and the look of a race for serious athletes competing for bigger prize money, as they do at the marathons in New York, Boston and Chicago.
"My experience has always been that the major-city marathons take on the personality of the city that they're housed in - and you can't control that," said marathon President Bill Burke. But he quickly adds that he wouldn't want to discourage the casual and the costumed. In fact, he embraces them.
"What Las Vegas has that other major cities don't have is it's the entertainment capital of America now, so I think that this race cannot only be a serious race because it has all the natural weather conditions necessary and topography for a serious race, but it also has the draws for a mass race," Burke said. "I think the potential for both sides is unlimited.
"Boston is Boston, New York is definitely New York, Chicago is Chicago and L.A. is L.A., and I think Las Vegas is going to be Las Vegas."
So for now, the marathon, entering its third year under the management of Devine Sports, will continue trying to attract better runners while reveling in the spectacle of costumes and antics.
Burke and his team are working to expand the event, which is expected to attract about 15,000 runners in the marathon and the half-marathon.
How big can it get? Burke said he envisions the day when 35,000 to 40,000 people, including 20 world-class runners, take part in the event and it will be televised to an international audience.
To get there, Burke said, he needs to land at least a national TV deal, which in turn would attract more sponsors, more money for the purse and more runners.
Devine Sports - which also puts on marathons in Los Angeles, Chicago and Salt Lake City - first boosted the profile of the Las Vegas Marathon by altering the course to include the Strip and the Fremont Street Experience.
Burke said he had to knock on a lot of corporate boardroom doors to get the Strip hotels to agree to shut down Las Vegas Boulevard for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning. That the Sunday morning in question came at the slowest time of the year for the hotel-casino business didn't hurt Burke's cause.
"What we did was we went to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and we said, 'What is the worst weekend of the year?' " he said. "They gave it to us and that's how we set our date because we wanted to be a positive influence in the city.
"Our research shows that 2.8 people come in with every marathoner. That's going to make it one of the biggest events in this city on an annual basis - on the slowest weekend of the year."
Event organizers attracted a title sponsor this year - Zappos.com - and have begun paying appearance fees to attract elite runners. Such fees can range from $500 to $1 million, although Burke said he never has paid an athlete more than $250,000 during his 24 years of promoting races. He ran the Los Angeles Marathon before it was purchased by Devine and he joined the Chicago-based company.
This year's race features a purse of about $164,000 - up from $130,000 last year but substantially less than the $600,000 paid out last month at the New York City Marathon.
Money, Burke said, is the key to growing any marathon. He said he envisions being able to offer a purse of $1.5 million to $2 million within five years in Las Vegas.
"Elite runners don't care if it's New York or Zanesville, Ohio," he said. "If you show up and you have cash, they're going to come. But marathons take a while to mature."
Burke pointed out that even the New York City Marathon went through its share of growing pains before it blossomed into one of the world's premier marathons. According to the New York Road Runners, which put on the event, the inaugural New York City Marathon in 1970 attracted only 127 paid entrants. This year's event had more than 90,000 applicants.
This year's Las Vegas Marathon will be televised locally, and Burke said he has begun conversations to have the event televised nationally and internationally "within two years." When that happens, Burke predicted, more local businesses will get onboard to support the race and that will allow him to attract more high-profile runners - while still keeping the 'fun' aspect of the race.
Like any other growing business, the marathon has had its rough patches - such as taking 11 months to pay the winners of last year's race.
"It's not like we don't have our own set of problems," he said. "We have faced our own obstacles but I'm very, very optimistic about the future.
"All the indicators are right. If we can get over these bumps in the road, it's going to be something to behold and I think Las Vegas, in the long run, is going to be very, very proud of this event."
Brian Hilderbrand can be reached at 259-4089 or at [email protected].
archive
