12:54 Brit Sam Atkin joins Pete Julian and Union Athletic Club

True but he will be 32 in March. Not sure if there is much improvement forthcoming.

February BU time trial merchant

Everyone predicting UAC's demise over the past couple years now have been exposed as blithering idiots.

Not only have Suguru Osako/Japan and Noah Kibet/Kenya remained with Julian since the team's move to Boulder then being cut loose by Nike, the roster has just grown to 6 runners with the recent additions of:

- Bailey Hertensten/CO

- Ella Baran/CO

- Eleonora Curtabbi/West TX A&M/Italy

- Yasin Sado/UVA

https://www.instagram.com/unionathleticsclub/

Bump that roster size up to 7 with Atkins' recent announcement.

Based upon their Instagram posts as well as US college affiliations, presuming all but Suguru and Kibet will be living onsite in/around Boulder -- so no coach-in-absentia problems from years past.

At 32 , it’s over and he’s holding on

Hopefully the change will enable him to kick the habit of constantly dropping out of races.

Hugely talented guy, but has proven to be a serial quitter.

Pretty much. Even though his 5K times are better than the other Brits we currently have, I have no interest in seeing him make any more GB teams just to either pull out or put in another underwhelming performance.

Sunday Plodcast boys had some very interesting stuff about Atkin I think in their Eurocross Preview.

More or less saying outright that his train by himself, get injured and parachute in one annual good performance was "not realistic". And hinted that he was less than popular among the British Elites.

Household names, to be sure!

Osako moved to Boulder. The team is all there, but for Kibet. More athletes reportedly joining. I’m hearing Koko and a couple of other legit athletes.

This Sado guy is very good, 8:17 steeple in college, and Hertenstein was a legit pickup. 15:10 in college last year and has run well thus far as a pro.

Atkin is a good pick up. Older yes, but did go sub 13 twice last year. He should be ok for another few years. There isn’t a group out there that wouldn’t take him. Can never have too many 12:55 guys in the stable.

All in all, not a bad reboot for the UAC in so little time.

And still no reboot of the UAC webpage, only a sad-a$$ insta.

unionathleticsclub.com

UNION ATHLETICS CLUB

A Nike team of elite runners from across the globe. Their values are rooted in excellence, diversity, and integrity.

Open link

All of you stupid inc*ls who've been ragging on Pete Julian for all these years can piss off. Everyone knows he can coach.

It's when he takes a vest without ever competing at British champs. It's not like he has the pedigree to play that game, like Hodgkinson or Kerr. Last year was the worst. Jack Rowe ran the standard and finished third at British champs but was left off the team for Atkin, who didn't even turn up but had run a little faster. James West would have been a fast better selection than both, even though he's has a slower PB, he owns them in championship racing.

I’m certainly no fan of Atkin, and I hope he doesn’t make any future teams, but in fairness Atkin didn’t just run a ‘little faster’ than Jack Rowe, he ran a whole 10 seconds faster. 12:54 is a world away from 13:04, and is a time that Rowe will never run himself.

Also, James West didn’t hit the Olympic standard and didn’t qualify based on ranking either, so he only has himself to blame.

will be protests in England if Atkin ever makes a GB team no matter how fast he runs. Never seen a runner DNF/perform absymally in so many races. Cant understand how he got picked off this consistent reputation plus not bothering to turn up for the trials. Does one race a year where he hits a qualifying time then goes into hiding, if he were Kenyan, id be screaming out for the testers to get him. He is far from liked in England and a proper shady character

I agree with the sentiment. Even though he’s a better runner than Rowe, I actually couldn’t care less and don’t wanna see him on any future teams. Hopefully UKA will take his track record into account next time.

Hopefully with Julian he competes a little more and stops the DNFs. In general, I’m not sure the British selection system is the greatest.

Can you provide a timestamp or a episode number? I went back and listened to a few of their pods from around liverpool/euro xc and couldn't find the comments

Yes, agree on West. He should have made more of an effort to get the required ranking because he wipes the floor with every other British 5k runner at the national champs.

But I disagree on Rowe. He hit the standard and turned up to champs, finishing third in a race where the winner (West) couldn't be selected. It meant that UKA gave two of the 5k spots to discretionary picks, Atkin and Mills. Mills deserved it for running sub-13 AND turning up to the European champs and winning silver behind Jakob. But Atkin? What was the compelling case to take him over a guy who turned up and finished third? Because he's run 10 seconds faster? That's pretty meaningless in a global champs, especially given Atkin's competition record. I certainly don't think Rowe would have performed any worse than Atkin in Paris, even if he wouldn't have done much better.