Prize Purse With A Twist

UltraSignup’s Dirt Circus is coming back to Bentonville and the event is featuring the USATF 10K National Championship in partnership with Rush Running and Visit Bentonville. The event will be live-streamed by Mountain Outpost and is featuring a somewhat novel approach to prize purses:

Dirt Circus Bentonville is introducing a community-funded prize purse model, where trail running enthusiasts can contribute to the purse and watch the action unfold through a Mountain Outpost livestream of the event. The twist? The community-funded prize purse will remain open for contributions until the winner of each elite division crosses the finish line, adding an extra layer of excitement and unpredictability to the event. The prize purse, through support of Rush Running and Visit Bentonville, is already set at $10K, stay tuned to watch it grow! 

Novel the idea is, and for that they get extra points, but the 10K will be over so quick…unlike an ultra where one could follow their favorite runners for hours? There won’t be a lot of time to “raise funds” and also, who is going to put their money towards fast runners winning races? Is that something an individual would do? Well, we shall see how this all shakes up. This is another effort by UltraSignup that won’t be in there permanent lineup of things they do:

This year, Dirt Circus Bentonville is being sponsored (by) Rush Running, with the event fully transitioning to Rush Running in 2025. “We’re excited to be working with Rush Running to bring this innovative event to life, and we’re confident that they will take it to new heights in the years to come,” added Goyen. 

Not sure if doing a huge splash for a couple of years, fully supported and broadcasted, will be enough to establish the event. Once the precedent is set, I hope the team from Rush Running can carry it into the future and there won’t be a disappointment when the big supporters have moved on.