This is garbage. It's well documented that sponsors send there athletes to the races they sponsor to increase brand visibility, but watering down the field at a major for that reason when there are only 6 WMM's in the first place is pretty low.
Hope Eilish has a great debut marathon when she gets to run and is able to stay healthy!
If true, she needs a new agent.
I don’t get it. What’s the conflict?
SiS vs. Lucozade Sport, I'd presume seeing as she's posted a photo with a whopping big logo on her singlet, and LM is sponsored by Lucozade & Buxton Water..
Completely assuming this is footwear sponsors, new balance and Asics, but why? Plenty of other brands with athletes racing..
It's too bad she didn't go into more detail about the conflict. If this was in the full public view it could open up a real can of worms for the WMM.
Free Eilish McColgan!
It is not the shoes, it is the drinks.
just take a look and realize that most of the top runners are Nike or Adidas and new balance has never said a thing.
Some how I feel like this is only one half of the story. It is strange in running people don't have more sponsors like in cycling displayed on race singlets. I'm not sure if most "shoe" deals prohibit additional sponsors to be displayed?
SuicidePace wrote:
Some how I feel like this is only one half of the story. It is strange in running people don't have more sponsors like in cycling displayed on race singlets. I'm not sure if most "shoe" deals prohibit additional sponsors to be displayed?
World athletics has regulations on logo size and placement on uniforms.
Agreed it's probably the nutrition sponsors, but with nutrition contracts generally being smaller, It feels even more petty
You know she's not telling you the whole story.
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Let her run! wrote:
It's too bad she didn't go into more detail about the conflict. If this was in the full public view it could open up a real can of worms for the WMM.
Free Eilish McColgan!
She doesn’t go into full detail because full detail would ruin her dramatic story.
She isn’t banned from running the race. She’s not allowed to wear the vest she originally wanted to because it doesn’t comply with the races sponsorship rules.
These rules are well known and have been the same at London for decades. They are strictly enforced. Your kit is checked and the logo sizes are measured. She will be allowed 1 logo (ASICS) and not any additional logo.
Nothing new and nothing specific to Elish.
Whether or not these rules are a good thing is another matter. But they are the same rules she signed up when she signed to race London and have been in place since before her Mum was winning so it really shouldn’t have come to a surprise to the family.
She needs rest/recovery time anyway.
Go for a holiday somewhere warm, sunny and relaxing.
Standard rules wrote:
These rules are well known and have been the same at London for decades. They are strictly enforced. Your kit is checked and the logo sizes are measured. She will be allowed 1 logo (ASICS) and not any additional logo.
Nothing new and nothing specific to Elish.
Whether or not these rules are a good thing is another matter. .
That's the dumbest rule and is part of the sport killing itself. So if Wout Van Alert wanted to run, he couldn't have both Jumbo and Visma on his shirt. It's basically saying runners can't have more than one big sponsor.
This can't be the whole story. Plenty of athletes have played on teams with conflicting sponsors to their personal life. Most famous one I can think is CR7 playing in Adidas while being a Nike athlete. Did Lebron only ever wear Nike on every team he has been on? Unlikely.
At most they would have said lose the logo for the race which is fair.
Standard rules wrote:
She doesn’t go into full detail because full detail would ruin her dramatic story.
She isn’t banned from running the race. She’s not allowed to wear the vest she originally wanted to because it doesn’t comply with the races sponsorship rules.
These rules are well known and have been the same at London for decades. They are strictly enforced. Your kit is checked and the logo sizes are measured. She will be allowed 1 logo (ASICS) and not any additional logo.
Nothing new and nothing specific to Elish.
Whether or not these rules are a good thing is another matter. But they are the same rules she signed up when she signed to race London and have been in place since before her Mum was winning so it really shouldn’t have come to a surprise to the family.
The logo / sponsor guidelines are far from ideal but nothing new and not something suddenly imposed at the 11th hour. Had Eilish not read her contract details fully, why wasn't her agent / team not advising her way ahead of 2 days before race day ? It's a bit of a weird one to throw into the mix, with just outline details given. Completely sympathise with the injury but the contract just feels like she's lashing out because she can / frustrations at the injury
time out wrote:
She needs rest/recovery time anyway.
Go for a holiday somewhere warm, sunny and relaxing.
Doesn't she train in dubai or something?
Honestly, on the one hand, I have sympathy - it's true, the sport probably needs more openness to sponsors.
On the other, she makes it sound like that sponsorship issue is what caused her to drop out, when, really, it's her knee (is it the same one that she dropped out from the NYC half just recently?).
I fully appreciate that being a top level athlete like her means riding that thin line of 'maximise fitness' and 'over-training injuries'; but there seems to be no consideration that the grade 3 hamstring tear that she “came back running far sooner than expected” from had nothing to do with stress on other body parts...
I get it, she tried to come back quickly, there was so much hype over here in the UK for her debut, but the injury/coming back too quickly is clearly more likely the issue (whether she admits it or not).
I didn't like that her post implies the blame on the sponsor thing (she keeps it vague enough, but that's clearly the way it reads). Let's face it, if she were ok to race, they would have figured something out.
what a cry baby!!!
its not like she has cancer ffs! injuries are a big part of running, especially top level - just get on and deal with it.
she should have listened to her doctors and her body. Give it time to heal. There will be more races but we only have one body. Pretty sure her knee issue is due to her hamstring stuff.
They would\'ve found a way wrote:
Honestly, on the one hand, I have sympathy - it's true, the sport probably needs more openness to sponsors.
On the other, she makes it sound like that sponsorship issue is what caused her to drop out, when, really, it's her knee (is it the same one that she dropped out from the NYC half just recently?).
I fully appreciate that being a top level athlete like her means riding that thin line of 'maximise fitness' and 'over-training injuries'; but there seems to be no consideration that the grade 3 hamstring tear that she “came back running far sooner than expected” from had nothing to do with stress on other body parts...
I get it, she tried to come back quickly, there was so much hype over here in the UK for her debut, but the injury/coming back too quickly is clearly more likely the issue (whether she admits it or not).
I didn't like that her post implies the blame on the sponsor thing (she keeps it vague enough, but that's clearly the way it reads). Let's face it, if she were ok to race, they would have figured something out.
Sometimes you just need a scapegoat and an outlet. Probably better to lash out at the powers-that-be in the sponsorship row than direct that anger/criticism toward herself, mom, partner or agent. Maybe it’s misplaced, but her Mom and her own proneness/impatience with her injuries, the financial allure of racing marathons (even if inadvisable) are unlikely to go anywhere. So if she had to get it out this probably felt cathartic for her.
