His 2.25 marathon and couple of immediately prior results pan out about 4% faster than the best of all of his very many other races. He is known to proudly brand himself as a 2.25 marathoner which is perhaps linked with the income he pulls.
He was living near to central London through this period. It is an area very well supplied with sub 2.30 guys. At the time there were about 8 in the club which he joined. Yet whilst he apparently was some sort of hero and community legend for the running community who don't get near 2.25 marathons, not one London runner of his level at the time knew him or trained with him.
I just hope that running influencers have a backup plan. I wouldn't want to put all my eggs in that basket.
I think more races will be cracking down on filming/taking video during the event/while on course. (And for sure not having your own film guy on a bike pace you during a busy road marathon).
And just look at how Serious Runner got BAAed at Boston for some simple GoPro footage of his own race....and you weren't even carrying a selfie stick!).
The next (road race) I'm doing explicitly states: "Prohibited Technology: In compliance with USATF competition rules, the possession or use by athletes of video, audio, or communication devices of any kind in the competition area is prohibited. Those competing for awards, medals, or prize money may not use such devices (e.g. no headphones, AirPods, etc)." I had actually thought about clipping on a mini Insta 360 GO 2 to my singlet for a chest POV....
If you can't capture the experience of a major marathon and all the high fives and beers you chugged along the way, then did it even happen?!
That being said people love materialism/consumerism and there is no shortage of content for always pushing new "shoe reviews" or even "motivational" hybrid-athlete workout banter/clips. If a brand can invest in an Influencer (or their Pro Sponsored Athlete for that matter) and have them push product/the brand on social media then it still a way better marketing deal financially (for the brand) than other traditional forms of paid online advertising/boosting?
I think more races will be cracking down on filming/taking video during the event/while on course. (And for sure not having your own film guy on a bike pace you during a busy road marathon).
And just look at how Serious Runner got BAAed at Boston for some simple GoPro footage of his own race....and you weren't even carrying a selfie stick!).
The next (road race) I'm doing explicitly states: "Prohibited Technology: In compliance with USATF competition rules, the possession or use by athletes of video, audio, or communication devices of any kind in the competition area is prohibited. Those competing for awards, medals, or prize money may not use such devices (e.g. no headphones, AirPods, etc)." I had actually thought about clipping on a mini Insta 360 GO 2 to my singlet for a chest POV....
If you can't capture the experience of a major marathon and all the high fives and beers you chugged along the way, then did it even happen?!
That being said people love materialism/consumerism and there is no shortage of content for always pushing new "shoe reviews" or even "motivational" hybrid-athlete workout banter/clips. If a brand can invest in an Influencer (or their Pro Sponsored Athlete for that matter) and have them push product/the brand on social media then it still a way better marketing deal financially (for the brand) than other traditional forms of paid online advertising/boosting?
LET'S GO!! #GoTwoMore #StayHarder
I say this from the lens of the Peter Lynch idea of put your money in what your kids are excited about. Granted, this is anecdotal at best, and I have zero data to support my intuition, but the few younglings I know seem very much over the major social platforms and using closed communities more for actual social networking (like Discord). This TikTok ban will be interesting too.
I would separate YouTube though. I think that is distinctly different than social media. I imagine people want to be MrBeast. But even he's experimenting with longer-form content...
Maybe there's a shift. Maybe it's wishful thinking. I dunno. The good news for influencers is that -- in my personal experience -- companies are typically slow to recognize shifts like this...
His 2.25 marathon and couple of immediately prior results pan out about 4% faster than the best of all of his very many other races. He is known to proudly brand himself as a 2.25 marathoner which is perhaps linked with the income he pulls.
He was living near to central London through this period. It is an area very well supplied with sub 2.30 guys. At the time there were about 8 in the club which he joined. Yet whilst he apparently was some sort of hero and community legend for the running community who don't get near 2.25 marathons, not one London runner of his level at the time knew him or trained with him.
That's odd they wouldn't know him, and his 2:25 was legit.
It shouldn't be that hard to track him down in results and annual rankings; 2:25 wouldn't be too far down.
Nobody is querying the Valencia course or that he covered the entire course in the stated time on the stated date.( we aren't in Runners World Editor territory here). His career race profile is the thing.
And the London sub 2.30 runners knew who he was beforehand because of his YouTube presence and rampant self promotion. But it seems noone of his level KNEW him in person.
Nobody is querying the Valencia course or that he covered the entire course in the stated time on the stated date.( we aren't in Runners World Editor territory here). His career race profile is the thing.
And the London sub 2.30 runners knew who he was beforehand because of his YouTube presence and rampant self promotion. But it seems noone of his level KNEW him in person.
Is this necessary a bad thing? I'm struggling to see what the issue here is. All I get from this is that he enjoys training solo and didn't race locally too often