I don't need to look at his Strava, he's well known in Kent races.
BSIs happen and he's not had that many
His long term development is a 2:16 first marathon
wrong - his long term development is likely to be a hatred of the sport, a wheelchair and regular bouts of depression
mileage ramped up far to quickly. ellis cross would definitely not be putting his name to this and im surprised mark hookway at tonbridge hasnt tried to talk some sense into him (although these type of people always think they know best). the suicidal path has naturally hit the injury buffers, and it seems to be a regular occurence. he survived the London build up but is a regular on the injury bench. just like Ben Is Begging, these fragile, 6 stone wet through geeks are doing everything for the kudos and freebies rather than taking advice from real experts
I don't think there is anyone in the world more aware that an autumn marathon was pushing his luck
He didn't plan one, and didn't want to do one.
His plan was valencia in December (I think? Correct me if I'm wrong).
He was basically "forced" into it for a "pro-deal"
I think he'll be pretty annoyed at himself as he'll be well aware it was too much too soon and probably avoidable.
But then it's an opportunity, and he's basically a kid.
Honestly don't know what the deal was 5k 10?
Certainly not worth an injury. Maybe it was the best lesson he could learn
wrong - his long term development is likely to be a hatred of the sport, a wheelchair and regular bouts of depression
mileage ramped up far to quickly. ellis cross would definitely not be putting his name to this and im surprised mark hookway at tonbridge hasnt tried to talk some sense into him (although these type of people always think they know best). the suicidal path has naturally hit the injury buffers, and it seems to be a regular occurence. he survived the London build up but is a regular on the injury bench. just like Ben Is Begging, these fragile, 6 stone wet through geeks are doing everything for the kudos and freebies rather than taking advice from real experts
I don't think there is anyone in the world more aware that an autumn marathon was pushing his luck
He didn't plan one, and didn't want to do one.
His plan was valencia in December (I think? Correct me if I'm wrong).
He was basically "forced" into it for a "pro-deal"
I think he'll be pretty annoyed at himself as he'll be well aware it was too much too soon and probably avoidable.
But then it's an opportunity, and he's basically a kid.
Honestly don't know what the deal was 5k 10?
Certainly not worth an injury. Maybe it was the best lesson he could learn
Happy to be proven wrong but I doubt Cole got money. Free kit, "VIP" entrance at Berlin, paid entry to other events, hotels, travel, kit, shoes etc yes, actual money? Not a chance
I don't think there is anyone in the world more aware that an autumn marathon was pushing his luck
He didn't plan one, and didn't want to do one.
His plan was valencia in December (I think? Correct me if I'm wrong).
He was basically "forced" into it for a "pro-deal"
I think he'll be pretty annoyed at himself as he'll be well aware it was too much too soon and probably avoidable.
But then it's an opportunity, and he's basically a kid.
Honestly don't know what the deal was 5k 10?
Certainly not worth an injury. Maybe it was the best lesson he could learn
Happy to be proven wrong but I doubt Cole got money. Free kit, "VIP" entrance at Berlin, paid entry to other events, hotels, travel, kit, shoes etc yes, actual money? Not a chance
I agree - I doubt they are flinging him any cash. My guess is they offered support for a marathon build up, as opposed to an ongoing contract. I imagine he gets kit, travel, race-entry and, by the looks of it, some video production (the last video was full on community college film school style ).
On paper, this is a great deal for Cole. In theory, he should have been able to build off London and keep his momentum going.
I like Cole and have followed him for a long time.
To me he has a very addictive personality, in an early video he talks about having to stop for a week and how difficult that would be for him mentally.
Be it stomach issues or injury his body is telling him to take some time off which will benefit him in the long term.
Just a quick recap of what Start Fitness/Adidas have gotten from their investment so far: exposure to 18.2K subscribers who had already heard of Adidas, 74:00 at the Big Half, overtraining/injury complaints, misrepresentation of their contract, a Berlin Marathon DNS (and for those counting, that was only 2x Berlin Marathon 2025 episodes we got).
I'd point out that in the Big Half video Cole has clearly lost himself "that's not much of an elite mentality" yeah but you're not an elite are you Cole... his HM PB isn't even on pace at halfway for the WC Marathon qualifying standard and getting a kit deal because you have a youtube account also doesnt make you a Pro.
If the London result (albeit impressive) going to his head wasnt bad enough, the "sponsorship" has only compounded this too.
Just a quick recap of what Start Fitness/Adidas have gotten from their investment so far: exposure to 18.2K subscribers who had already heard of Adidas, 74:00 at the Big Half, overtraining/injury complaints, misrepresentation of their contract, a Berlin Marathon DNS (and for those counting, that was only 2x Berlin Marathon 2025 episodes we got).
I'd point out that in the Big Half video Cole has clearly lost himself "that's not much of an elite mentality" yeah but you're not an elite are you Cole... his HM PB isn't even on pace at halfway for the WC Marathon qualifying standard and getting a kit deal because you have a youtube account also doesnt make you a Pro.
If the London result (albeit impressive) going to his head wasnt bad enough, the "sponsorship" has only compounded this too.
Have a day off Braincelll
Not sure why you always have to be so mean spirited.
We haven’t forgot your comments this time last year saying Bester had no chance of a sub 2:20 at Berlin.
Just a quick recap of what Start Fitness/Adidas have gotten from their investment so far: exposure to 18.2K subscribers who had already heard of Adidas, 74:00 at the Big Half, overtraining/injury complaints, misrepresentation of their contract, a Berlin Marathon DNS (and for those counting, that was only 2x Berlin Marathon 2025 episodes we got).
I'd point out that in the Big Half video Cole has clearly lost himself "that's not much of an elite mentality" yeah but you're not an elite are you Cole... his HM PB isn't even on pace at halfway for the WC Marathon qualifying standard and getting a kit deal because you have a youtube account also doesnt make you a Pro.
If the London result (albeit impressive) going to his head wasnt bad enough, the "sponsorship" has only compounded this too.
Have a day off Braincelll
Not sure why you always have to be so mean spirited.
We haven’t forgot your comments this time last year saying Bester had no chance of a sub 2:20 at Berlin.
They’ve called a spade a spade, don’t let it ruin your weekend.
Was good to see Nick B in his video. Again showing his caring side and showing you shouldn’t judge someone without knowing them.
Only when the camera's rolling. I once try to talk to Bester a couple of years ago in the starting pen of the Rotterdam marathon. It was still 15-20 minutes before the start, but he basically ignored me. I would've understood if it was minutes away from the start, because then you need to lock in and focus. But he was just being a douche bag.
Seth J DeMoor raced that same year and we spoke for a couple of minutes after the race. I'm not following his channel anymore because I don't have the patience for it, but he seemed like a more genuine guy than Bester.
Was good to see Nick B in his video. Again showing his caring side and showing you shouldn’t judge someone without knowing them.
Only when the camera's rolling. I once try to talk to Bester a couple of years ago in the starting pen of the Rotterdam marathon. It was still 15-20 minutes before the start, but he basically ignored me. I would've understood if it was minutes away from the start, because then you need to lock in and focus. But he was just being a douche bag.
Seth J DeMoor raced that same year and we spoke for a couple of minutes after the race. I'm not following his channel anymore because I don't have the patience for it, but he seemed like a more genuine guy than Bester.
Serious question, why would you even want to speak to these people before a race? Bester seems absolutely intolerable even as the worst friend in a friend group (boomshakala!) and I can’t imagine wasting my breath before a race to chat up some triple-Z list YouTube celebs…
Was good to see Nick B in his video. Again showing his caring side and showing you shouldn’t judge someone without knowing them.
Only when the camera's rolling. I once try to talk to Bester a couple of years ago in the starting pen of the Rotterdam marathon. It was still 15-20 minutes before the start, but he basically ignored me. I would've understood if it was minutes away from the start, because then you need to lock in and focus. But he was just being a douche bag.
Seth J DeMoor raced that same year and we spoke for a couple of minutes after the race. I'm not following his channel anymore because I don't have the patience for it, but he seemed like a more genuine guy than Bester.
Maybe you were creeping him out or maybe he was having a bad day.
We don’t know the full reason behind it but doesn’t sound like you have enough evidence to make such a sweeping statement about him. This probably reflects worse on you for being cringe enough to try and talk to them.
Cole's video was cringe and almost a carbon copy of Ben F's which was a copy of the doc style started by Alex Yee. Cole looked way too thin and not surprised he got ill/injured.
Only when the camera's rolling. I once try to talk to Bester a couple of years ago in the starting pen of the Rotterdam marathon. It was still 15-20 minutes before the start, but he basically ignored me. I would've understood if it was minutes away from the start, because then you need to lock in and focus. But he was just being a douche bag.
Seth J DeMoor raced that same year and we spoke for a couple of minutes after the race. I'm not following his channel anymore because I don't have the patience for it, but he seemed like a more genuine guy than Bester.
A while back I would watch all of the running YouTubers as it all seemed new and interesting. Now it just seems oversaturated and following this thread you notice trends and how they mostly forgo smart training just to shill the next product/shoe/race.
I now only only watch the people I enjoy watching (crown my run, Ran to Japan and Ryan Thomson). I don’t even bother clicking on the ones that come up in recommended (Philly, Ben is Running, Floberg etc.) that I’ve grown sick of previously.
Anyone else the same? It seems like most people in this thread are just hate watching every YouTuber going?!
A while back I would watch all of the running YouTubers as it all seemed new and interesting. Now it just seems oversaturated and following this thread you notice trends and how they mostly forgo smart training just to shill the next product/shoe/race.
I now only only watch the people I enjoy watching (crown my run, Ran to Japan and Ryan Thomson). I don’t even bother clicking on the ones that come up in recommended (Philly, Ben is Running, Floberg etc.) that I’ve grown sick of previously.
Anyone else the same? It seems like most people in this thread are just hate watching every YouTuber going?!
Can’t speak for anyone else but I have different categories of hate watching.
Phily, I literally almost bear to watch, but I’ll click on the video and skip around. It’s like … the same reason you watch a horror movie through your fingers? The cringe is absolutely horrendous, but in very, very low doses, it’s an experience.
Floberg, I vaguely track because he’s a similar age to me, and is about 2 years further into serious marathon training than I am, with a PR 20 mins better than me. I’m partly interested to learn from his mistakes, but also I partly genuinely find a 2:35 impressive (sorry, letsrun). He’s also way too cringe to watch all of, but if you turn on 1.5X speed and skip 75% of the videos, there’s some content in there. It’s a bit like squeezing a lemon…
Question for Tim Grose if he still reads this. Am I right in saying you came up with age grading stats for parkrun? Or just that you know a lot about it?
From my understanding it’s just a percentage of the world record time for someone in that particular age category? But is this not just really skewing the stats to favour those older? You are going to get more 28 year old men training to their absolute potential due to it being professional and that’s what they are paid to do. Therefore you can be confident the 18-30 male category 5000 WR is the absolute upper ceiling of what someone that age can scientifically achieve. Far less 70 year old women will be trying to max out their potential and it’s unlikely any 70 year old woman is being paid and coached to max out the absolute top end of what can scientifically be achieved. So you get someone like Dawn Broom in the 50/60 category (who is obviously an incredibly talented runner no doubt) getting a 90% age grading which is a higher than someone like Thomas Frith (30-34) who won Battersea parkrun in a time of 14:50 today which got him 87% AG. Are we saying that if Dawn was a 25 year old guy she’d be getting a low 14 minute 5k?
Is it just a case of saying it’s not perfect but it’s the best we can do? Admittedly can’t think of a better way to measure it feasibly… It definitely seems like generally the age grade stats at parkrun are always dominated by older people.
As an aside - both yours and the brooms channels are fantastic. Although you and JB may have a rival for best male YT masters runner in Ryan Thompsons Dad now ;) MARM must have a pretty solid score too in the middle aged category.
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