Nick Willis and Mary Cain to run for Tracksmith

Running Perspective - she has world class talent. And that doesn't go away. If she has a good training year, anything is possible.

HR/Risk Management - she's a stirrer? She was treated terribly by her coach as a very young adult. And the treatment was acknowledged by several witnesses. When I think of a stirrer - I imagine someone who complains for no reason or intentionally wants to create trouble. By all accounts, she was a model teammate.

And yes, an employee can be terminated at will. But the terminated employee will be eligible for unemployment and health benefits after termination. That's a heck of a lot better than being an independent contractor who can get reduced or outright canceled after which the contractor is left with no income and no way to pay for health insurance.

Hacksmith wrote:

Maybe Nick and Mary can convince Tracksmith's VC sugar daddies to stop lowering quality while increasing price every year.

It was so nice, during Tracksmith's first couple years in business, to have a brand where you could pay a little more for real quality running clothing. These days, you pay a little more to look like a New England prep school kid for a month or two until your gear wears out.

Yeah, their stuff is crazy expensive regardless of how you cut it. Wasn't 'wow'ed' by the styles either. So many other good choices for less. Convincing others to purchase will be TALL order for anybody. Schools largely won't be wiling to shell out their prices. Nick is forsaking adidas for .... ? Skechers?

Mary actually makes a lot of sense for this, as she has already built up a pretty big following (mainly women) in the NYC running community. I don't follow her too closely but she pops up at NYRR races, the armory, podcast tapings, and leads classes at mile high. So she's kinda already doing this job, just without the tracksmith logo.

So will Nick still run in Adidas shoes....

their merino wool long sleeve winter running shirt is the best in the game. i absolutely love them. have like 4-5 now. i live on the ocean (n. atlantic) and they are crucial in the winter. beats the poo out of any nike tech thing

Agree with nyc runner. She was leading group runs from the nyrr runhub. Often with some other famous person. People know her.

CGeorgeRun wrote:

This is pretty incredible news and kudos to Tracksmith for doing this. Obviously they expect to realize market growth and impression becasue of this and I think they'll realize some incredible gains as a result of these hirings. Both will be excellent ambassadors for the brand.

Also, most importantly, Mary Cain and Nick Willis will be employees. Not independent contractors (like 99.9% of professional runners), but salaried employees with wages and benefits. They don't need to worry about reduction clauses and presumably random termination. For Nick, this will lead to a great opportunity after 2021 as his career comes to a close and for Mary, this gives her a low stress opportunity to train, improve, and perhaps return to the international scene if that's what her goal is, without fear of losing her job if she gets injured or has a bad season.

They don’t need to worry about reductions and terminations? I think 30 million Americans that were employed as of a few weeks ago would disagree with this.

Cain makes perfect sense. She's a great marketing tool to reach the rich middle-aged white women who need validation from others by doing 5 hr marathons.

Idk if she still trains or plans on getting fast again, but if she ever does that (pretty unlikely) it looks good for tracksmith

Their recent decisions come across as super desperate. Sales must be tanking. Maybe there's some niche that really wants to be associated with Mary Cain and social justice causes, but why split your audience when it's doubtful her presence will actively attract anyone? Aren't they supposed to be about the amateur spirit?? What's with hiring pro runners then. So bad

As much as I talk smack in Tracksmith for their overpriced gear, this is a good move in supporting athletes while also giving them real jobs.

Wut Disaster wrote:

Their recent decisions come across as super desperate. Sales must be tanking. Maybe there's some niche that really wants to be associated with Mary Cain and social justice causes, but why split your audience when it's doubtful her presence will actively attract anyone? Aren't they supposed to be about the amateur spirit?? What's with hiring pro runners then. So bad

Mary has name recognition in NYC and to the extent she is viewed in social justice terms her view probably are acceptable in NYC. Since that is where they are paying her to interact with runners and clubs, it seems like a low risk tactic.

I don't know enough about Willis' proposed job to offer an opinion on his suitability. But he is better known in the track world than the running world generally, so that could impair his effectiveness.

Yeah, maybe! Got any more hot takes, Nike shill?

Hacksmith wrote:

Maybe Nick and Mary can convince Tracksmith's VC sugar daddies to stop lowering quality while increasing price every year.

It was so nice, during Tracksmith's first couple years in business, to have a brand where you could pay a little more for real quality running clothing. These days, you pay a little more to look like a New England prep school kid for a month or two until your gear wears out.

Juice Springsteen wrote:

As much as I talk smack in Tracksmith for their overpriced gear, this is a good move in supporting athletes while also giving them real jobs.

If this was about supporting athletes, why not support an “up and comer”.

Max Johnson wrote:

But Cain will be actually wearing Nike shoes, correct? Just like Oiselle athletes used to, when there were a few.

Doesn't Oiselle still have athletes??

I think they might sponsor or give free gear at least to some more developmental runners, I could be wrong though. For their first signees though I think it makes sense, hopefully a sign of things to come.

CGeorgeRun wrote:

This is pretty incredible news and kudos to Tracksmith for doing this. Obviously they expect to realize market growth and impression becasue of this and I think they'll realize some incredible gains as a result of these hirings. Both will be excellent ambassadors for the brand.

Also, most importantly, Mary Cain and Nick Willis will be employees. Not independent contractors (like 99.9% of professional runners), but salaried employees with wages and benefits. They don't need to worry about reduction clauses and presumably random termination. For Nick, this will lead to a great opportunity after 2021 as his career comes to a close and for Mary, this gives her a low stress opportunity to train, improve, and perhaps return to the international scene if that's what her goal is, without fear of losing her job if she gets injured or has a bad season.

Good point. However, this is Mary Cain we're talking about here. Even with reduced stress, she will still fail and go home devastated.

I'm a little surprised that an anti-doping crusader like Willis would join a company that would hire a doping NOPer like Cain.

I am impressed that Mary is a very, very good student and from what I have read is qualified to apply to Medical School or programs in many different allied science fields. She apparently still has the running bug, but she must realize the opportunity cost of taking an apparel marketing job over having a science-based career. This is also a tough time for all apparel companies (look at GIII, Ralph Lauren, PVH in the stock market). She will do well in whatever she chooses, but I hope an extension of a difficult running career is not behind her decision.

I can’t get over the number of people who think this is some social justice play.

... do you not think literally every other clothing and apparel brand isn’t staffed primarily by liberals?

The Cain hate runs deep on LRC to the point of delusion.

Somehow Nick’s politics aren’t a factor to you people.