The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

perhaps she should go back to the ultimate youtube shiller strategy and do a summer of parkruns, going to different venues to engage with her hords of "fans"

think of all the POV content that could be pumped out on a weekly basis and all the middle age chuggers telling her how amazing and fast she is - its a better tactic for the ego than getting despatched by u16s in 3000m track races

Any excuse she will use to get out of racing, her last two have been major flops, she doesn’t have that dawg in her

the OMTIU guy posting 'verified' on Trackstaa post about Georgia Hunter-Bell winning the DL last night. Wow, thanks, we were all wondering if she really did run the time and the distance that multiple TV cameras were streaming live to us

you would too if 9 out of 10 of your last races were crap

The run testers on YouTube ripping a certain Chinese running shoe to pieces has stink all over it. The influence the western shoe market has over these YouTube clowns is glaringly more obvious than ever.

I survived his dull, monotone voice long enough to hear that he paid £150 for them, too. Most people manage to get them for <£100, which is a pretty huge difference.

Up for 12 hours and absolutely no engagement whatsoever bar two replied calling him a clown.

Struggling for relevance, sad.

Are you referring to videos from 10+ days ago? Just watched their Dynafish Xioanian one.

I've bought 5 pairs of these Chinese shoes, at crazy cheap prices (using shipping agent). One pair was too small despite me checking and rechecking everywhere on the sizing, the numbers on the tongue simply don't even agree with each other (or even another model from very same brand) - no problem, I can just pass them on to a mate with that size.

I've tested each shoe and then not used them much since, which I'm fine with as they were just an experiment. I raced in a pair of Do-Win PB Pro after sirpoc sang their praises as the fastest shoe he'd ever tried, and I found them ok but nothing that special. Haven't worn them since.

I'm also yet to see any breakthrough performances in any Chinese shoes. Suguru Osako knocked ~30sec off his marathon PB on arguably the fastest course in the world in a pair. FOD runner wore a Chinese pair for one race last year and had a stinker out of nowhere, then went back to racing in Western shoes and I don't think has had a stinker since. Think he still rejects the idea that it was the shoes, but he won't race in the shoes again to test that out?

I see The Running Brooms have raced in these shoes and rate them, but again the evidence in terms of times doesn't convince me the shoes are amazing. They're just quite cheap.

I might buy another pair of Chinese shoes at some point, but I do think they have been overhyped and I'm finding myself picking through the bargain bin of Western shoes recently, picking up shoes that only came out a few months ago for 40-50% off with the backup that I can return them if they don't fit.

Everything has a price, I think the Chinese shoes are about right for what you get and the risk you take on sizing, but not the incredible deal that so many make them out to be.

The account could have actually been so good if it stuck to it's original purpose, calling out influencers with a decent public profile who engaged in egregious material breaches, not random people with 200 hundred followers who unthinkingly share an automated strava graphic to their close friends indicating their 4:13 marathon was actually a 4:11.

Every single Tom Wheatley video starts with "I havent been running much lately". Since he hit his sub 3 a few years ago he has barely ran more than 70k in a week and turns up at races for free to either dawdle round or go off too fast and "walk it in" - how are his reviews relevant? I dont see how he puts enough

Nick Harris-Fry mentions he is a "high cadence, shuffly" runner 8 times a video in his north london middle class manner. the lad aint worked a day in his life.

Keiran is ok but i dont think he puts all his runs on Strava as he doesnt seem to run very low mileage, like 40k a week, then go and run a 2:55 marathon or a 100 mile ultra. He seems ok to be fair.

Of course these people are in the pockets of the "western brands" they get sent to races and get free shoes. It is not in their interests to promote cheaper alternatives.

I did despise the way Tom was saying "these shoes used to be cheap but now theyre too expensive" basically telling people to look elsewhere - "Oh these are good but not a patch on the Superblast or Megablast" - We dont have £200 to spend on a daily shoe, mate. When was the last time they bought a pair with thier own money? That's why he hated the Chinese shoe, because he had to actually spend cash