Union moving to Colorado

Once again, Sarah Lorge-Butler and Runner’s World with a scoop that Gault and LRC should have, but could not get.

Rumors of this last month but yes, Sarah has had lots of big scoops recently.

Makes sense to move to Boulder given Pete lives there now and altitude training is becoming even more desired than it once was. And flights out of Denver are probably more convenient to most locations relative to Portland.

The tracks in Boulder and Flagstaff are becoming the most used in the world by elite level athletes.

Albuquerque is still better than Boulder for altitude, weather and access to trails and airport. But it is less cool than Boulder. Kenyans, Moroccans all the elite elite come to Albuquerque, all those who want to be elite go to Boulder

SLB doesn't have a boss like rojo (I'm assuming).

She is a journalist, they are something else.

Nobody cares about Union athletic club though.

Everyone is missing the point. Union has had a few pretty poor seasons and rumor was that Nike was shutting it down and now not only not shutting down? Not making a coaching change they are dumping more money into a failed group. Jerry and bowerman take lots of crap on here and people are always calling for his scalp but union has a worse year and they skate by

With a likely impending announcement re: Diljeet Taylor/BYU taking over as coach of a new Nike-sponsored pro women's team based in Provo or Park City, appears BTC/Jerry will remain in Eugene as the pro team fed primarily by future UO grads.

So, by next summer, Nike will have pro distance teams based in Portland, Boulder, Provo, and Flagstaff.

Lots of options for many more post-collegians looking to sign with Nike.

800 & milers may be more willing to sign on with (sea level) BTC as two or three altitude camps are all they need to maximize their performances.

Thus, will Raevyn Rogers move to Eugene? Will Sinclaire Johnson reunite with Jerry? Will Charles Hicks leave BTC for an altitude team?

BTC may very well become primarily a middle distance pro team with everyone one else choosing one of the other three options.

There is also the scenario of Nike funding a men's pro team in Park City, featuring Grant Fisher.

And then there's SOVA, based in Blacksburg headed by Ben Thomas, featuring Cole Hocker and Cooper Teare. Does Nike fund another pro team with the intention of attracting distance runners who prefer living on the East Coast?

Lots of dominoes yet to fall.

Boulder bro

Let’s go

let’s ball out like Deion

this is great news for Elise Cranny. She's a Nike athlete and basically trains alone in Colorado. (Jared Cornfeld coaches her remotely)

I think New Mexico remains an underrated spot for altitude training especially Santa Fe that shares a lot of characteristics with Flagstaff

Santa Fe is beautiful but super expensive to live and very isolated. people go there to dissapear, they're welcoming to visitors but not so much to people who want to live there full time. the rich eccentric people who run the town make it a point to constantly raise property taxes and gum up construction on any new houses or apartments as their way of keeping Santa Fe from expanding. saw a documentary on it. the city council begins every meeting by meditating with crystals.

That’s great. There’s too much construction around me and it’s already crowded.

Yes please, Charles should be the future of British long distance running, not rotting away in Eugene with a coach that’s more focused on a college team. Would hate to see him waste his potential.

Is Amos Bartelsmeyer still with Union?

MattHatter, I like your work on this board . . . but have to chime in here for a moment.

The parts about Nike and Jarred Cornfield are correct . . . but the rest is wrong.

(Note: I know it looks corny, but his name is spelled Cornfield. With two "r"s in the first name.)

After Elise grew weary of BTC, then tried again and failed with Team Boss, it finally sank in that the pro team environment was no longer for her, even one based nearby where she lives.

By all accounts, Elise is now very happy with Jarred, a long-time friend who has reduced her mileage and intensity by focusing on limited threshold workouts to avoid another fall down the RED-S rabbit hole.

Only way she leaves Jarred is (a) he either cuts her loose to focus entirely on his new head coaching duties at NAU next year, or (b) Nike insists Elise train with the relocated UAC if she continues to live In the Boulder area. Doubt any of those options are realistic.

And, like Jess Hull, Elise does have track session training partners; male training partners named Tai Dinger/ex-Stanford and Charles Sweeney/ex-CU. One or both were even up at St. Moritz to help her out during the two weeks prior to the Olympics.

UAC moving to Boulder will have no impact on Elise other than she would have ex-Stanford teammate Ella Donaghu to accompany her on easy and long runs -- presuming Ella does not bolt to BTC or Mike Smith or choose some other option.

I stand corrected. and I never thought she'd leave Jarred Cornfield with two R's. I just meant having a Nike outpost in Boulder would help her as far as training partners and having a support staff nearby (if she wanted them) though it sounds like she's got that covered.

he's got to be viewing what Woody, Grant and even Cooper's have done since leaving BTC and thinking...

I don't know why elites use Boulder as their base of training. ~5xxx feet is not high enough. And it's way too comfortable of a place.

In the CO region, go up to Alamosa or Laramie or places like that with real altitudes that benefit your training.

Pat Porter won 8 US XC titles and top 10 in World XC four times living in a cold, arid, high altitude place. And held a road 10k word record (which Ingy just barely finished ahead of recently).

Speaking of Pat Porter, absolutely devastating cause of death. So sad his son died with him as well.