It doesn't depend on the caliber of the athlete - it depends on the partnerships an individual athlete has managed to secure.//
Not really a true statement in its entirety. I would say that all of the top athletes are doing fine with their sponsors(very top that is), and then it is about what kind of contract you negotiated. You are correct in that many non top tier athletes are getting much more that it would appear their results merit, but results are not the only arbiter of how much one gets paid.
As for the travel, at least in my day most the top athletes got travel paid for. We had contracts that allowed for a certain amount of travel, and then there was just about as much from RD's in that area. I would imagine if some really big name ran out of travel money from a sponsor, the RD would then pick it up. In fact, we used to go to the RD well first, trying to save and stretch out the paid travel from our money sponsors. I would often forgo a free hotel room for a homestay too, they were so much more fun, and it really added to the overall race experience in new areas. My guess that is still the case with most, other than a few anti social folks that just want to live in a black hole up until race time...
Not really a true statement in its entirety. I would say that all of the top athletes are doing fine with their sponsors(very top that is), and then it is about what kind of contract you negotiated. You are correct in that many non top tier athletes are getting much more that it would appear their results merit, but results are not the only arbiter of how much one gets paid.
As for the travel, at least in my day most the top athletes got travel paid for. We had contracts that allowed for a certain amount of travel, and then there was just about as much from RD's in that area. I would imagine if some really big name ran out of travel money from a sponsor, the RD would then pick it up. In fact, we used to go to the RD well first, trying to save and stretch out the paid travel from our money sponsors. I would often forgo a free hotel room for a homestay too, they were so much more fun, and it really added to the overall race experience in new areas. My guess that is still the case with most, other than a few anti social folks that just want to live in a black hole up until race time...