Chris Devine, CEO of Chicago-based Devine Racing, which operates marathons in Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas in addition to Salt Lake City, said the company had a "tough year," but said his organization will take care of its bills. Many involved with the Salt Lake City Marathon, from printing companies to florists, were paid several months after the June 2006 race.
"We know we've been late, very late, with some checks," said Devine. "It's a situation we're not happy about either. Salt Lake has struggled some, but other events are doing well."
Tom Ratcliffe, an agent who represents about 30 racers, said one client, Philip Tarus, has yet to receive $8,000 for placing second in Salt Lake City and that several of his clients were paid late from last year's Los Angeles Marathon. As a consequence, none of Ratcliffe's agents entered the L.A. race two weeks ago.
The Huntsman Cancer Foundation, the Salt Lake City event's chosen charity, has not received any money from summer's race, either. Devine said he plans to give the cancer foundation $50,000 in coming weeks. He also vowed to pay runners within 90 days of an event and said a check to Tarus was forthcoming.
"We didn't hit our numbers and we didn't have a title sponsor and we had to raise a little extra capital," Devine said.
Devine said the Salt Lake City race, now in its fourth year and sponsored in part by The Salt Lake Tribune, should break even this year thanks to budget cuts and the addition of a title sponsor. More than 12,000 are expected to participate in the marathon, half-marathon and associated events.
The budget cuts primarily come from downsizing the total purse from $77,000 in 2006 to $35,000 this year, leading to smaller payouts for the top finishers. Last year, the elite male and female winners received $12,000. This year, they will receive $5,000.
Devine Racing had a similar decrease for its Los Angeles event, which went from $35,000 in prize money to $20,000.
Those cuts, plus another $200,000 from the elite program to pay appearance fees, housing and travel costs of top runners, will ensure that the Salt Lake City Marathon is more of a local event rather than a top-tier race.
"When it's all said and done, 85 percent of our racers are local and 99 percent of them don't cross paths with the elite athletes to begin with," said race director Scott Kerr. "We've decided to focus on those masses that are local. Normally you don't see locals among the winners; this year you could."
Without top runners competing, the event won't have as much national prominence, but Travis Hildebrand, the general manager of the Salt Lake Running Co., said their absence would go unnoticed by many participants.
"It may benefit the younger athletes who could see the elite role models and look up to them, but to your average 45- or 50-year-old running in the race, it isn't going to matter," he said.
Larry Barthlow, a consultant who advises athletes that compete in many marathons, said the problems in Salt Lake City aren't necessarily unique.
"It's problematic in the whole industry," Barthlow said. "With every major race there seems to be trouble, or it's slow. Everything relies on sponsors and the money has to work its way down the food chain."
Cutting Salt Lake City's budget led to the departure of former race director Greg Reid, who wouldn't accept a smaller salary and left the company a year ago. Reid described the split as being on "good terms."
"It was a tough year for a lot of people," he said.
It costs about $500,000 to hold the marathon, Devine said.
lwodraska@sltrib.com
