Indianapolis Marathon prize money

The OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon has never been a big-money race. Consequently, it has remained a community event with few big-name runners.

However, today’s 34th annual half-marathon continues to draw a field that is better than the prize money would seemingly merit.

First place for men and women in the 13.1-mile race is UD$3,500 each. By contrast, Atlanta’s annual Peachtree Road Race, which is 10 kilometers, offers UD$7,000 for first.

However, Camille Herron, 28, West Lafayette, said she chose the Mini over today’s national 25K at Grand Rapids, Mich., because the money is better here. Total prize money in the elite categories is UD$15,600 in Grand Rapids and UD$23,800 in Indy.

“I race all over the country at all distances, and the Indy Mini does have very good money (and deep money) for a half-marathon,” she said in an e-mail. “The elite field continues to get better and better each year.”

Returning in search of a fourth successive victory in the women’s race is Janet Cherobon, a 31-year-old Kenyan based in Rome, Ga.

Herron was Indiana’s USA Track&Field Distance Runner of the Year for 2009, and already has qualified for the 2012 Olympic marathon trials. Other top Hoosiers include Laura Farley, 26, Indianapolis; Nicole Fisher, 25, Indianapolis; Dani Prince, 24, Bloomington; Indy native Andrea (Kremer) Pomaranski, 27, Farmington Hills, Mich.; Big Ten 10K champion Jessica Gall, 25, Bloomington; and 2006 Mini winner Lucie Mays-Sulewski, 39, Westfield.

Julia Rudd, 27, Portland, Ore., formerly lived in Indy and represented the Indiana Invaders track club. She was an NCAA Division III steeplechase champion at Wisconsin-La Crosse.

“If you live in Indiana, you’re not really a runner unless you run the Mini,” Rudd said. “It’s just really a good event that everyone in the state recognizes.”

Herron wouldn’t miss it. She ran the Mini in 2008 only two weeks after the Olympic marathon trials.

“People are attracted to it because of the money, being a fast course, goes around the (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) track, and the social aspect,” her e-mail said. “It’s Indiana’s biggest running party of the year.”

Kenyans have won every men’s title since 1996. Defending his title is Festus Langat, 24, based in West Chester, Pa.

(source:indy.com)