At Nike's NYC street race, where runners went head-to-head for rent money, affordability was top of mind

Akinola Raymond, 32, of Manhattan, grinning at the podium on Saturday.

Raymond said his rent was $3,800 a month.

Truman Dickerson / Business Insider Nike offered two NYC street-race winners up to $4,000 each to cover a month's rent.

Some racers and spectators said $4,000 doesn't go far enough in New York's housing market.

Affordability has been a major focus of Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration.

Luckily for the winners of Nike's street race — and perhaps Nike as well — both pay less than $4,000 for their share of rent in New York City.

The sportswear giant was offering that much, which it described as a month's rent, to two winners of a multi-heat street race held in New York City on Saturday.

That's less than the median monthly rental cost for a Manhattan apartment.

One winner, Destiny Scott, told Business Insider in a post-race interview that she lives with her mother in a "decent-sized" apartment in East Harlem.

She said her share of the rent is $1,000 a month.

"It can help out as rent gets more expensive ," the 26-year-old said of the prize money.

The other winner, Akinola Raymond, said he pays $3,800 for a two-bedroom apartment in the East Village, meaning his winnings will just barely cover his next check to the landlord.

Raymond said he lives with his fiancé.

"We have a wedding in two weeks," he said, "so having that prize money helped us a lot." Saturday's race, held on Orchard Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side, drew dozens of runners willing to sweat it out in the late summer sun for a chance at winning some rent money.