Shoe/Product Sponsorship

find out reps for companies, contact them and sell yourself. many non-shoe companies (such as apparell, sunglasses, etc) offer pro-deals, which entitles you to a healthy discount. not exactly free, but better than paying full price.

Find a local club with hook ups then run fast enough to make the team.

I'm wondering about this too-- does anybody know how fast a female runner (graduating this year) would have to run in the 5k/10k for sponsorship-- what about just free shoes etc.? Thanks!

Try local running stores. Many of them give out some shoes and uniforms to a handful of good athletes in the area as long as you can run some fairly quick times and agree to run some local races wearing their uniform.

Running fast times is not the only reason you would be sponsored. For my team you must be a greatspokes person for the sport. You must give back to the sport and the sponsor. Good things happen to people who do good things.

Try running real fast

Here, here. Too many young "hopefuls" do more harm than good for the store that sponsors them. I managed a store team for a former employer and had to boot guys for arrogance at events, publically making fun of walkers and heavy runners, not showing up for their awards and crap like that.

A few rules to help you get sponsorship:

Have a running resume with recent performances and realistic goals for the upcoming year.

Be direct in your request (Ex. - I need five pairs of trainers, two pairs of racers, and my entry fees) and be willing to negotiate if necessary.

Be sincere about your ambitions and humble. Nothing scares off sponsors like a cocky athlete who claims he's going to be the next big thing yadda-yadda-yadda. That's a red flag your about to have an egotist advertising your store and that usually isn't good.

Offer to be of service to the store. This means helping out at expo booths, clinics, high school meets, leading the weekly group run, etc.

Race locally! Especially events funded by your sponsor. It's cool to go to track meets out-of-town (if mid distance) but you really should hit the store's local 5K road race. That just shows respect to your benefactor. (I had two guys who never raced locally and it was hard to validate their alleged 3:48 / 14:16 at some small college meet 500 miles away.

Just remember always that sponsorship is a business relationship and both parties must get fair value for it to be beneficial.

If all you are looking for is essentially free shoes and stuff then join a running club that provides these for their elite athletes. Many top racing clubs do this. The BAA, Asics Aggies, Reebok Boston, etc.