His fans ended up paying for his hospital visit via a Crowdfunded, no?
I think RTJ has become a bit too formulaic, and while his titles and thumbnails have always been clickbait, it feels like he turned it up another nodge on that front.
To be honest it's also just really hard to keep making engaging content. RTJ was interesting because he did kind of stand out with his (ridiculous and unwise) training methods and the different location he was running and racing in. What I'd love for him to do to make it more engaging would be to focus much more on Japanese culture, engage with other Japanese runners via interviews etc., but he seems to be having a hard time actually integrating there.
I actually think he includes quite a bit of Japan content in his videos. He's often chatting with Japanese runners and travelling to different locations in Japan to race. I'm not sure what more you can ask of him on that front. It's not like he can just join a Japanese team if he asks nicely. It has nothing to do with integrating. Keep in mind that not everyone wants to be interviewed and put up on YouTube.
I think it makes more sense for him to focus on his training and organically include Japanese content where possible rather than going out of his way to add more "Japanese culture" in his videos.
He does his best but he only speaks very basic Japanese at this point, and most Japanese people speak only very basic English, making interviewing those around him in any depth essentially impossible without a translator.
There's also plenty of Parkruns around Tokyo - I wonder if he could get involved there?
I honestly want the kid to succeed but I just think he needs to make some changes to do so in the influencer landscape.
Looking for recommendations for lesser know channels as I’m one of the rare people frequenting this board that seems to like running YouTube videos.
A few excellent lesser known ones I’ve stumbled across recently:
Inm runs
the running twins
raleyadventures
all seem like nice folk who are passionate about their running.
I’m enjoying the 3 British marathon runners at present. RTJ a 2.14 marathoner, fun guy living in Japan and mileage mutt comes across well and recently sponsored by Brooks. Cole is Running, debut 2.16 in London and doing Berlin and Valencia this year also. He recently secured sponsorship by Adidas. Ryan Thomson, lesser known than the others but very open and likeable Scottish guy (weird accent) 2.15 marathon PR but recently ran 28.55 10km who’s unsponsored. On his last video also mentions Berlin. His videos show his love of running, no influencer nonsense.
I'd recommended MARM and Crownmyrun and the two running Brooms if you like videos about running and not videos about running shoes.
Cheers. I’ve seen Marms stuff, he has featured the running brooms in his video before along with raley adventures that I mentioned.
he also seems to know another couple of great YouTubers not mentioned yet itsonandy and Donato
ItsOnAndy and Donato have been mentioned several times, by *you* in fact (butter my crumpets etc).
All the West Midlands youtubers know each other and cross-pollinate their content, as they all attend the same races. It's a very incestuous world. The only one of particular note is MARM*, whose cynical spin combined with decent masters talent sets him apart from all the others. There's a few smaller channels adopting a similar approach, the same way CROWN inspired a POV-with-amusing-commentary trend, but they'll settle on their high 100s/low 1000s subscriber count as they always do.
I also watch the Nielsen Twins. They're GB 4x400m Paris Olympic medalists. I really enjoyed their Road to Paris series which documented them qualifying for 2024. It's nice to see workouts from sprinters and hurdlers for a change as well as some of the BTS of Diamond League or World Champ events.
My name is William Fu, I'm just an everyday hobbyist runner on a journey to find my absolute potential. So far it's been a crazy ride with highs and lows. Follow my channel for all things running from training vlogs, running events, chasing marathon major qualifications, product reviews and more! The Wu Official Website https://thewurunning.com Follow me on Strava https://www.strava.com/athletes/31122379 Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/willfu8
‘Was I disrespectful, or was I abused at parkrun on Saturday?’
I won’t reveal any spoilers about what happened but be aware you will need to listen to the end of the video to this ‘big’ drama.
What an extremely pompus person he is. There was really no need for that video. At least this video is different to his usual "starting a 100 mile too fast and crawling home" stuff
‘Was I disrespectful, or was I abused at parkrun on Saturday?’
I won’t reveal any spoilers about what happened but be aware you will need to listen to the end of the video to this ‘big’ drama.
There really is nothing to spoil. It's a ridiculous "story" and he's being a cry baby about it.
He's a washed up old bloke that's out of ideas. His videos were once quite enjoyable, now he's just creating a load of 'OH MY GOD'-style titles with little research or substance.
Even the old heads aren't immune to the modern-day drivel. Running YouTube is at it's lowest point ever, and like others have said, even RTJ's content has been pretty dull and regurgitated lately.
floberg's first video in his next 'series' for chicago is out. i'm sadly unsubscribing from the guy. i can't take his overdramatic main character half hour cinematic masterpieces anymore. i just cant lol. the guy becomes more insufferable with how over the top he makes everything but i know he's gone fully into that lane since his viewers gobble it up. i'll hear about his race result in this thread and enjoy the commentary from you all. but i'm over him. will i miss watching his videos to critique from a cynical viewpoint? of course. but its better for my own mental health to not watch videos of a guy i'm annoyed by. dare i say i am growing yall!?