More than a million fans are expected to line the road of the 2024 New York City Marathon on Sunday to clap on the thousands of runners who are scheduled to run. More people will watch Television.
It is, by any estimate, one of the most popular sporting activities of the year in New York. But how much income do athletes who run marathons make?
New York Road Runners awards$ 100, 000 to the winners of the men’s and women’s divisions, with the second ($ 60, 000 ) through 10th-place ($ 2, 000 ) finishers receiving successively smaller payouts. The fastest men’s and women’s chair sports each make$ 35, 000, and the top six winners all earn some money. The total purse is just under$ 900, 000.
New York’s personal winner’s awards are the next largest of the six main sports, behind only the Boston Marathon, which pays out$ 150, 000 to its leaders. Finalists of the chair groups receive higher payments in Boston and London.

Although a six-figure haul for one race is impressive, marathon runners ‘ quarterly earnings are just limited because the majority simply compete in one or two main competitions each year to maximize performance and reduce body aches.
The Abbott World Marathon Majors ( WMM) series, a points-based competition that awards the top runners-up in the six major sports, as well as the World Athletics Championship and the Olympics, offers additional funding. The WMM used to award$ 500, 000 to each champion but now gives just$ 50, 000.
Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum, who tragically passed away in a vehicle crash earlier this year, probably had the best season possible for a marathon runner in 2023. He set a course history at the London Marathon in April, and he then broke the men’s world history in the Chicago Marathon in October. Kiptum netted$ 150, 000 in Chicago for his win ($ 100, 000 for the race victory plus a record bonus of$ 50, 000 ) and approximately$ 230, 000 in London ($ 55, 000 for the race win plus a record bonus of$ 25, 000 and an additional hefty bonus of$ 150, 000 for breaking 2: 02: 00 ). Finally, his$ 50, 000 for topping the WMM leaderboard brought his year-end prize money to$ 430, 000.
In 2023, Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan and Kenyan Hellen Obiri each won two degrees. Hassan won the WMM name on a playoff, and each finished the year with$ 275, 000 in profits from those tribes.
They were both crossed, but, by the best wheelchair marathoner: European male Marcel Hug. Hug, the world’s most successful marathoner, has won 31 major championships in total since 2016, including all six of them last season. In Boston and Chicago, he raked in an extra$ 50, 000 each for setting the training history. Tack on another$ 50, 000 for his WMM medal that equaled Kiptum’s and Hassan’s, and his reward money for the year eclipsed$ 300, 000.
Elite chair marathoners, unlike the runners, usually compete in most of the year’s big events, which enable them to gain almost close sums of money, despite smaller payouts per race. The actual numbers for the distribution of prize money for the Tokyo Marathon are unidentified, but Sportico estimates that at least seven of the top 25 marathon winners in 2023 were wheelchair runners.

Just the best of the best runners can survive on prize money solely because only the top five to twelve finalists in any given race receive a reward. At least$ 100, 000 was made from prize income at the six disciplines in 2023 for about a few runners in the men’s, women’s, and chair groups. The numbers, however, do n’t include appearance costs or testimonials, from which players can boost their earnings.
This time, Hug has continued his supremacy, winning four of the five degrees, good for about$ 180, 000 in prize money. He failed to secure his fifth straight victory in New York, but, finishing in fifth place on Sunday.
Swiss woman Caroline Debrunner, who earned more than$ 200, 000 from wheelchair races in 2023, has won three majors so far this year but did not compete this weekend.
However, the six disciplines in the female’s and women’s units have all been won by split runners, which has spread the money around. At the front of the pack is Obiri, who earned$ 150, 000 for her Boston win and an additional$ 50, 000 for a second-place end in New York.
( This story has been updated with Marcel Hug’s finish in Sunday’s men’s wheelchair event and Helen Obiri’s finish in the women’s marathon. )