On Saturday evening, less than 12 hours before the start of the NYC Half, T-Mobile CEO John Legere offered some serious financial incentives to some of the top American men in the race via Twitter. It’s unusual for performance incentives to be offered by someone other than race organizers or race sponsors, but Legere, an avid runner, has a history of being a supporter of the sport.

He began by offering Meb Keflezighi an incentive for leading the race out of Central Park.

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.@nyrr if @runmeb is leading as they exit @CentralParkNYC in #UnitedNYCHalf I'll give $25k to charity of his choice, if wins $50k,or both :) — John Legere (@JohnLegere) March 15, 2015

Forty-two minutes later, Legere sweetened the deal.

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.@nyrr I decided @runmeb $50k if 1st out of park and ends top 5, $100k if wins, $25k if out park first and not top 5 #doublecharity #WinMeb — John Legere (@JohnLegere) March 15, 2015

A couple of hours later, just before midnight, Legere tweeted that he would offer Dathan Ritzenhein, Matt Tegenkamp, Andrew Bumbalough, and Keflezighi time bonuses for breaking 61 or 60 minutes in the following morning’s half marathon.

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He followed up with an update regarding the time bonuses, “amount is to YOU, OR the charity of your choice!! Your call!!”

The bonuses were news to New York Road Runners (NYRR) officials and race competitors, who learned of the incentives late that night or the next morning.

“John’s a fan of the sport, a supporter of the athletes, and a big supporter of our mission at New York Road Runners,” NYRR spokesperson Chris Weiller said two days after the race.

Shortly after Legere’s announcement, Keflezighi’s brother and agent, Merhawi Keflezighi wrote on Twitter, “Meb will wake up to this #doublecharity surprise. #GenerousJohn”

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Legere, who did not respond to requests for comment, has been a member of NYRR’s board for five years, and has been involved in the sport since high school. He ran cross country and track & field for the University of Massachusetts, and was later a member of the Saucony Racing Team.

More recently, Legere, 56, has run fast times in big city marathons, despite having what is undoubtedly a busy schedule. In 2011, before he took over at T-Mobile, Legere ran 2:54:02 and finished fourth in the 50-54 age group at the Chicago Marathon. He has run the Boston Marathon nine times since 2004, with a fastest time of 2:58:11 in 2011. In 2012, the Fitchburg Sentinel and Enterprise reported that he had raised more than $1.2 million for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute through his Boston Marathons. He has also run the New York City Marathon six times since 2004, with a best of 2:53:20 in 2011.

This is not the first time Legere offered his money to some of the sport’s top runners. Last summer, he put up prize money that helped attract a strong field to the Michigan Track Classic, an event co-directed by Nick Willis.

In the end, Andrew Bumbalough came closest to earning one of Legere’s time bonuses. He finished fifth in 1:02:04, 65 seconds away from earning Legere’s money. Though the event has prize money for the top 12 finishers, there are no publicized time bonuses other than the money offered through NYRR’s 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials Athlete Support program.

Keflezighi did, however, earn $25,000 for his MEB Foundation from Legere for leading the race out of Central Park. Keflezighi thanked Legere via Twitter that evening and said that he would donate a portion of the money to NYRR’s Team for Kids.

Legere did not offer any performance incentives to any of the women or foreign athletes in the race, but he later congratulated Molly Huddle, via Twitter, on her victory. He also suggested that his days of offering performance bonuses may not be over.

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