Course record bonus

[Memorial Mile]

I have a question for you that I would appreciate your opinion on. I am the co race director of the Memorial Mile in Youngstown, Ohio held on Memorial Day. We have two heats, a citizen's and kid's heat, then the"elite heat" where we give away the gift certificates, etc. The one guy who owns the store that helps sponsor the race has been able to possibly secure the donation of a car. He wants to give the car away to anyone who sets a course record. They are:

MEN: Eugene Kornilov, Russia 3:55.84 1998

WOMEN: Sonja Friend-Uhl, Bridgeville, PA 4:42 1996

MASTERS MEN: Dave Blankenship, Tallmadge, OH 4:25 1998

MASTERS WOMEN: Penny Felger, Petersburg, OH 5:23 1998

Anyway, he wants to make sure that we do this right.....I told him we need to include both men and women, masters and grandmasters to make it fair. Is there some kind of legal stuff as far as having to run the race under your own power, start at the start, etc.? How do other races do the legal stuff for course records and then giving the money away?
Thank you very much for your time,
Phil

[JackSlade]

No matter what you do I'd make things crystal clear in the race instructions... CRYSTAL CLEAR.

[JamesM]

What happens if two people break two of the diffrent course records?

Unless you have two cars I don't see how you are going to award the correct person the car. I guess you could do this by the person who breaks their record by the most seconds.

What happens if no one breaks a record? Does the Race Director get the car?

I think you would be better raffling off the car and spreading the money out across winners going deep.

It is never the man who comes first who helps your race turn a profit, (especially if you comped them), it is the last 200 at the back.

My question is what is the goal of your race committee?

Is it to grow the total numbers in your "citizens" start, or increase the depth of filed in your elite start or to award one person one year if they happen to set a course record?
If you attract a couple of elite runners with the car, what will you do for them next year or will this be a one off flash in the pan?

With the money from a car I could give Everyone a gold plated finisher medal bigger than a door knocker or give new racing wheel chairs to the most improved disabled athletes.

[Finish_Line]

Usually, I thought that these types of awards were provided via insurance. So...if you wanted to offer the incentive, you bought insurance against having to make the awards(s). This is a weird case...you may actually have a vehicle, but then you may not need to deliver it if your records remain intact. It's a weird position to be in. I think I'd rather not have the car than to have the problems that the car will bring me.