The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

what an embarassing post trying to make yourself sound relevant

sounds like a dad in the realms of Bester with his international jogging career, surely another one of the part-time shilling community not doing a proper job or parenting. the guys racing abroad or cross country every single week. not exactly dad of the year material.

what a mickey mouse event - GB all top 6 and not a true elite in site. definitely not an event which justifies being given a GB vest to run in

Having made the original post; I think I agree with what UB is saying. The point I was making is they are all sub elite marathon distance runners; however, in the Ultra world I am sure some of them are considered elite.

100%

Alfie beat Alex Yee at the Valencia half last year, before Yee went on to run 2:06. Alfie has said in multiple interviews now that 2:09:30 is the goal, to tick off the standard before targeting a faster one later this year. A very sensible approach to a debut but I'm sure if he wanted he could hang on to Sesemann and smash out a 2:07ish.

When he cruises to a 2:09 it'll be pretty frustrating to come on here and see clueless chumps comparing him to RTJ and calling him fast for a Youtuber.

Have to think this is a missed opportunity for rtj and a banger vid tbh. Could've been right up there for a medal. Charlie davis in 2nd and logan smith in 3rd both 2:15 runners

Would've been just as mickey mouse as elsons ego stroking world silver but you can't deny you watched that video with that title

Hopefully he gets to 35k feeling good on 2:09 pace and pushes on to a 2:07 high / 2:08 low. I agree its a sensible thing to do, but when you are in such good shape i always think its a waste not to use the fitness you have whilst you can.

RJT fast for a YouTuber glosses over how fast he actually runs. Anything sub 2"15 in not to be sniffed at. It's global national standard for sure , being better than the majority of nations national records (235 vs est 75 above). I get the point he's not there with AY and Alfie, but quality runner nonetheless.

I think general understanding of what good is has been skewed a bit by content.

The Welsh Runner and his missus are both appalling people. How desperate are Huawei for wanting to link up with a person with such a small following , is literally 50/50 to even make the start line and who disappears when things go badly? How desperate is The Welsh Runner for money when he is abandoning a Garmin or Coros that actually works and does what you want and trading in for a Huawei which probably has appalling GPS and battery life?

Tbf a lot of watch companies do similar. I'm sure Bester has advertised multiple watches that he wears for a run or two then you can see on his Strava immediately switches back to the big brands. Remember Anya Culling doing a big launch event in her England kit as an 'elite international' for a pixel watch or something too?

It's a weird marketing tactic - like I can see the evidence that they're inferior products because they've immediately dropped them after a couple of days. At least when Coros sponsor athletes it's long term so you don't get that obvious switch after a day or two.

Why are the appealing people? I watched loads of people including supposed mates run by RTJ and pretend they were worried later. I watched WR help a guy at London.

Whatever you think about sponsorship tactics and how people go missing, appaling person it does not make.

I feel like a personal vendetta in that post, tattle life type of post tbh

i really struggle to understand why any company would sponsor the welsh runner? the guy doesnt do youtube vids anymore. is he posting alot on facebook or insta?

gladly hes slipped out of my algorhytmns into a life of insignificance but i can not see why he would get a deal to wear watches when his social media presence has slipped into the invisible. the guys gagging to be noticed but hasnt produced a decent result in years now. time to hang them up old dog

It's a bit of a ballache to start using a new platform, if you track training load etc on the previous watch. I've had Garmin/Polar/Coros watches in the past and now check Coros app far more than Strava etc.

Huawei could stipulate that they want the athlete to keep using the product for 6 months or whatever, but the key marketing thing is the endorsement/advert from the athlete. Barely anyone is watching to see if they keep using it later.

I've seen Mo Farah doing FB ads for Huawei watch last week, so I suspect they have a decent marketing budget and Matt's probably been offered enough that he couldn't say no. Everyone's got a price!

DC Rainmaker review here [Tl;dr "Is It Actually Accurate? - In short, no, it’s not."]

dcrainmaker.com

Huawei GT Runner 2 Accuracy Review: The Next Best GPS Design?

@dcrainmakerblog

Everything you need to know about the Huawei GT Runner 2 GPS watch, and how it performs in real life.

Open link

Ben is running looks in the shape of his life. What has Victor done to him? "Coach"

RTJ is fast but I don’t think comparing him to Alfie is fair as Alfie is a level above, he’s a runner first and YouTuber second but RTJ is more of a sub elite/ fast YouTuber.
RTJ and Dan Nash have a bit of a rivalry going which is probably more level playing field and works quite well with the contrasting training philosophies too.

RTJ has said he's a runner first and Youtube is just to support that, I do think he is prioritising his running above all else but he also puts some proper hours into his videos and they are very good.

Where people disagree on RTJ's level is that he has hyped up the times he wants to run so much that one camp think it's just a matter of time until he steps up to that level, but now we have a growing camp who aren't sure if he's just in a cycle of overtraining/underperforming in races. Believers vs non believers, if you will.

I think RTJ and Dan Nash have similarish training philosophies in many ways, it's just RTJ is using feel over HR/lactate numbers. They both still end up doing broadly the same mix of stuff, albeit Jake takes the volume to the very extreme.

Ellis Cross ran 2:10:09 on debut recently, and it barely got a mention anywhere. I think that's one of the fastest debuts in history by a Brit (quicker than Yee, not far behind Farah)

Steve Way got a lot of attention 10-15 years ago, before YT running content was a thing and his blog was well read. He ran 2:15 low in 2014, around 40 years old. Maybe worth 2:12ish in supershoes?

Think it's fair to say RTJ hasn't actually put a proper time up for the marathon so far. Yes he's an excellent runner, works his nuts off, but in the current climate you need to be running 2:08 to start getting noticed as one of the really big dogs. This does feel like a new era for British marathon running at the moment.

What is going with Aubrey (bigger than running)? How does he keep getting opportunities like Tokyo etc? I know he has family friendly content but he doesn’t get many views. He then posts his pre race video two weeks after the race.

Also, I know he featured on a TRC video recently, maybe the lack of videos on his channel is a sign that he’s joining them?

You can learn a lot about what products are good by what these shillers wear when they arent sponsored. If fenton is being sponsored by a hotel (honestly lol) have a look at his shoes for that race and snap them up with code Shilling15 on Shill Direct ASAP

Industry plant, people on this thread know what his true colours are. Horrible fragile bloke

I know someone with no youtube channel and a modest IG following, who gets trips to all the marathon majors in return for doing a bit of advertising for one shoe brand on their posts.

I think some of it is just down to your rapport with the brand managers, if you're easy to get along with and happy to jump in the trips they organise then you're going to keep getting invited. Aubrey brings good vibes, and has a solid social media following, that's all you need in this game really.

[By the way I find his content a bit cringe, but I'm putting myself in the shoes of a social media brand manager trying to pick accounts that get attention from a wide section of the running community - my taste will be totally different from the masses, but what's to my taste is irrelevant]