TinMarathon Elite: no more track

Marathon focus? Does not make sense for all.

Well, Tinman has vast Marathon / elite success. This is quite logical.

as expected the announcement doesn't really explain any of the obvious questions

- If TME is now Marathon focused, is Drew no longer involved? You would think he must be but he is still pursuing track + the announcement mentions Reed being the one "at the helm"
- What is happening RE brand sponsorship?
- How do you focus a Marathon brand around 3 people, one of which doesn't do Marathons and one of which hasn't broken 2:13 - it's just Reed & Drew's parents?

Seems to me that this is their final attempt at making the group work in some capacity.

A year ago they were trying to put together a women's team and actually had some very solid female runners on the roster. They also had brought on Eliud Kipsang and a few other truly track-focused guys. And then... nothing. Not even a fizzle. It just totally dissipated without any real explanation as to why.

I like Drew as a runner. Hell, I even like Joey and Parsons as runners. I was always optimistic about this group and wanted it to succeed, but I really think any good graces the team had in the running community were destroyed when they forced out Tom and kept using his name (which also incidentally led to Cory Leslie's departure - probably the team's best chance at ever having a real successful track coach). Its been downhill ever since, and I think this is the death knell. A shame.

Hahahaha what's the point of the name/label anymore. It's just two training partners. Drew's not even there.

Must be some sort of karma. Not even Austin survived this latest purge. What are they still getting from Adidas at this point?

Sounds like the group is still together, but now only the marathoners will stay supported by Adidas (and be called Tinman Elite).

Roads are a better cheaper investment than track. Marathoners race less, get travel expenses paid for, and get appearance fees. Probably more eyeballs on a 2:12 marathoner that’s in the top 10 Americans at a WMM than say a guy who runs 13:05 for 5k and finishes 8th at USA’s. Even though the folks here know what’s more impressive.

Only one person liked my joke?

Tinman Elite is just embarrassing now.

They might have had a chance of being really successful if they hired a real coach after firing Tinman, but instead they hired Drew's mom.

After that, it was only a matter of time until the group imploded.

What ever happened to Kipsang? I remember him being in a few of their videos and then poof disappeared.

I still think the name is false advertising. They should in no way be allowed to call themselves "elite."

Whereabouts failures

Joey Berriatua went into some detail on this on the latest Coffee Club podcast. Obviously doesn't give all the answers we fans have after years of TME but he gives a lot more detail and personal insight than an Instagram announcement. Pretty grateful for Bags transparency throughout his career!

Sam still can train with them.

Interesting that both Drew and Connor are with adidas.

Nobody cares

From an email sent out last night to their mailing list:

What Does This Change Mean for the Previous Roster?

This was one of the most nuanced and difficult questions for us to answer in this process. In the past eight years, we’ve become more than just teammates. We’ve been each other’s groomsmen, watched one another start families, supported each other during life upheavals and failures, and celebrated each other’s successes. Balancing a viable future for Tinman Elite with a desire to stick together was tricky.

Fortunately, we’ve worked toward a solution that will allow for Drew, Sam, and Joey to continue training under Coach Hunter in Boulder.They’ll line up with the marathon team in training whenever possible, but you’ll see much less of them in our content as we all work to fulfill our varying sponsor requests and preferences. We’ll remain good buddies who share many runs and laughs together.

Typical Tinman stuff. Vague and sparing with real details and information. Maybe I'm missing something but I still don't really get what's going on. Honestly most of the Tinman guys (emphasize most, not all) have always rubbed me the wrong way. They never accept responsibility when things don't go their way. From the ousting of Schwartz to contract issues to not making teams, etc. Always someone else's fault. And they act like they're transparent but they always hold out details especially when changes happen. Any time they're on podcasts people call them "real" and whatnot but they just whine and complain. I get it that the pro running world is often cutthroat and unforgiving but that's just the way it is. If a sponsor drops you or if you feel like you deserve more, then run faster or perform better. But they never leave it at that. It's always a blame game when things don't go their way.

They did something right over they years if someone actually cares about their off the track team dynamics given the talent they have. It's sort of like if pro baseball fans cared who the manager, gm, and outfield wall sponsor are of a double-a minor league baseball team 2000 miles away.

sort of like the savanna bananas of pro-running, but nobody wants to watch them compete?