Kenyan marathoner Nicholas Manza Kamakaya won the Gold Coast Marathon in Queensland, Australia, set a course record, and lost $27,000 in the process.
Kamakaya can run a marathon in under two hours, ten minutes. He did it in Beijing, setting a record of 2:08:49. The Gold Coast Marathon was offering a 27K bonus to anyone with a time of 2:10 or under. Kamakaya set the record at 2:10:01, winning $10,000, but if that time had been one second, just ONE second of a marathon shorter, he would’ve more than tripled his pay. That’s the futility of life, isn’t it? Guy Fieri tells you you can do this, but you don’t keep ping pong balls bouncing on a slanted table long enough and you lose like a hundred grand. What the f**k is the point of our lives?
Kamakaya seemed much cheerier about the situation.
“I’m just happy. For me it’s so nice [to win],” said Manza. “It’s very special for me because it’s my first time in Australia and I’m happy because I’ve run the course record.”
This was his first win, having finished sixth at Rome and second at Beijing and Los Angeles. I guess 10K is still a pretty sweet sum for an afternoon of running, and I applaud him for being a better, much less bitter, and way, way faster person than me.
[h/t to Fourth-Place Medal]
