LRC Note: We like to have one thread per subject. We've merged two threads on this into 1 and kept the original thread title. The 2nd thread was titled, "Tracksmith Decides: When Digging a Hole Make It Bigger."
No, obviously only the runners of the 2024 Boston Marathon should get a race completion shirt. Completely different situation. It’s a race completion shirt, not a BQ shirt.
the issue here is that Tracksmith is selling a “BQ” singlet, and the literal definition of a BQ is spelled out precisely on the B.A.A. website: to meet your age group qualifying standard — yet the Tracksmith post goes out of its way to rub salt in the wound by obfuscating the meaning of “qualifying” and only selling singlets to those who actually register for the race, despite the cutoff having nothing to do with the actual definition of a BQ. It’s generally not good marketing to present themselves to the public as elitist pricks
anyone who would actually buy such a singlet is a complete d-bag tool regardless, but the fact remains that the post is completely tone deaf in a year where 11,000 qualifiers were shut out due to space constraints
It is not a race completion shirt- you get it when you get your bib. The medal is the completion prize.
but the fact remains that the post is completely tone deaf in a year where 11,000 qualifiers were shut out due to space constraints
More accurately, 11,0000 qualifiers were shut out due to non-qualifying charity runners. All qualifiers could have run if they dumped the charities. 39,000 people ran in 1996.
I f-ing really hate this sport sometimes. You really cant have nice things anymore without someone finding a way of moaning about it.
If they hate this 'BQ singlet for BQ qualifiers' for being elitist, then I hope they're contacting the BAA for being elitist for having time standards in the first place. I hope they're contacting the Olympic committees for not giving out finishers medals to all finalists at the Olympics. I hope they're cancelling the 'World Champion' title for not being inclusive enough. I hope they're contacting every single race organiser on the planet and complaining about finishing results ranking people is elitist. fml.
The modern hobby jogger thinks the sport owes them something and has lost sight of the fact that this, by design, is the most elitist sport there is. Whether you are comparing yourself against your own times, or against the next man, the sports hinges on the principle of who is faster, fastest, and how do I get faster.
The modern cultural shift over the past decade is killing everything in site, god knows nothing can happen unless it is uber inclusive and accounts for every single conceivable cross section of society.
No, obviously only the runners of the 2024 Boston Marathon should get a race completion shirt. Completely different situation. It’s a race completion shirt, not a BQ shirt.
the issue here is that Tracksmith is selling a “BQ” singlet, and the literal definition of a BQ is spelled out precisely on the B.A.A. website: to meet your age group qualifying standard — yet the Tracksmith post goes out of its way to rub salt in the wound by obfuscating the meaning of “qualifying” and only selling singlets to those who actually register for the race, despite the cutoff having nothing to do with the actual definition of a BQ. It’s generally not good marketing to present themselves to the public as elitist pricks
anyone who would actually buy such a singlet is a complete d-bag tool regardless, but the fact remains that the post is completely tone deaf in a year where 11,000 qualifiers were shut out due to space constraints
It is not a race completion shirt- you get it when you get your bib. The medal is the completion prize.
Along these lines, would it be less tone deaf it was called a "boston entered" singlet?
That’d be fine, then it would just bea commemorative singlet for race participants, if they called it a “finisher shirt.” The issue is diminishing the achievement of 11,000+ people who worked hard to BQ, but were denied entry due to a historic number of applications by conflating the definition of qualifying with actually registering for the race. It doesn’t mean much to most LetsRunners but hitting one’s BQ standard is a tough effort for most people, and explicitly excluding them from a BQ singlet seems needlessly cruel
Not really sure how this is a good business move when they've always had BQ qualifier singlets for sale and they usually end up having extras leftover that go on sale. They even have an OTQ singlet in there right now.
Not really sure how this is a good business move when they've always had BQ qualifier singlets for sale and they usually end up having extras leftover that go on sale. They even have an OTQ singlet in there right now.
I think they were hoping to differentiate from the other companies that create singlets for the majors. But it backfired mightily. Their singlets are decently popular as is, the few people that the exclusivity aspect appealed to are far outweighed by the people alienated by it.
What you're saying is, in effect, that competition and hierarchies are toxic. Which, historically, is wrong in pretty much every context across time and place.
Marketing here was poor, but the outrage is worse IMO. My lord. If you, like the army of running influencers going en masse to the comments, want to get a billion likes/positive reinforcement, go say some nonsensical virtue signaling on that post & it’ll happen. As a progressive person, I see this stuff and think how clearly off the mark and extreme cancel culture becomes & it just plays in to the other side’s argument. From a running perspective, I’’ a former sub 2, 50 flat 400 mediocre track guy who has gotten older and in to marathons. I haven’t BQd yet & it’s motivating me to get better at jogging. I find it absurd these people get offended by the notion they are jogging too. I run 6:50ish MP…that is NOT fast lol. That is jogging. So if you’re taking 5 hours to do a marathon, you should be honored to ever even be referred to as jogging (it’s more like walking). Get over yourself people. Also, I heard all this fervor over the guy behind the quote…it appears he ended up apologizing and reconciling with Katherine Switzer. She was complimentary of him ultimately, as were many others. To me, this is the exact kind of story we should tell.
People upset are just what-about-me posting. Making something that doesn’t apply to them at all about them by being outraged. News flash, no one cares that you are too slow to order this singlet. The world doesn’t revolve around you even if you think it should. This is the new normal.
BQ standards are very easy to hit, not sure why some of the commenters are calling it gate keeping. I doubt any of them bought tracksmith gear anyway. Just buy Nike Adidas and Saucony stuff on sale instead of wasting money on overpriced BS.
BQ standards are very easy to hit, not sure why some of the commenters are calling it gate keeping. I doubt any of them bought tracksmith gear anyway. Just buy Nike Adidas and Saucony stuff on sale instead of wasting money on overpriced BS.
There are now people in thread calling for tracksmith to call for the BAA to change their entry to include or just have a lottery
Do you know how bad I wish I could be good enough to make a national team and get the full team USA Gear haul??? I would put that shyt on a mannequin, displayed in a glass case in my home for the rest of my life! Too bad for me, because the odds are I'll never get top 3 at the trials. Does that make Nike elitest? They design clothes that one has to earn by going through a series of USATF events. Tracksmith is also making an exclusive singlet which one has to go through an organized race to get. I don't mind it. Is my thinking flawed here??
Haha, 6:50 absolutely is jogging and you are a moron. This is not a humble brag, just an informed, realistic perspective. No one in the right mind thinks 6:50 is fast, the only allowed exception being if you’d are to running as an adult without any context. You’d be arrogant to think of yourself as “fast” if you run 6:50. You should think of yourself as someone with endurance who can hold a good pace for a long time. People of all athletic abilities can develop the competency to endure jogging for that long at that pace. Been to a race and seen sub 3? And get out of here with the average marathon pace metric…what a joke. That is skewed by loads of people not really running or jogging and that metric has not control for training duration or volume.
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