Breaking down the 2017 STWM champion’s chunky prize earnings

Philemon Rono of Kenya showed up on the streets of Toronto on Sunday morning ready to take down some records at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. The elite marathon runner headed to the start line early on Sunday ready to go fast and hopefully topple not just his 2:07:07 PB but also the course record and perhaps even the record for the fastest marathon ever run in Canada. 

RELATED: Philemon Rono breaks two records, scores massive payday in Toronto

He’s going to be flying home to Kenya this week having checked all three of those boxes. The marathoner ran 2:06:51 beating the race’s record of 2:07:05 as well as the Canadian all-comers record which previously stood at 2:06:54. That race performance earned him C $75,000 – a massive amount which will go quite far back at home. 

Rono has made himself a legend for Canadian fans of the sport. Last year he won in Toronto after a guard rail fell on his head when he was stretching right before the race. He was knocked out temporarily but recovered on time to not only run the marathon, but win it. Then, he ran 2:08:27 and would have taken home $25,000. He celebrated with friends and family by having a massive feast. 

But this year, he takes home a whopping sum of cash. The runner, who used to work as a police officer, is the father of three children. Here’s a breakdown of what he won today ( and yes, this runner just earned in one hour what some people make in a year…):  

$1,777.25 per kilometre 

About $37,500 per hour 

$2,884.62 per mile

$6,250 for each month of 2017 

$8,333.33 for each split checkpoint

227 pairs of the Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4% shoes  (his chosen footwear)

750 hours of recovery massage (assuming a massage costs about $100)

113 nights in a deluxe suite at Toronto’s Shangri-La hotel

165 entries to the NYC Marathon – one of the heftiest road race price tags