can someone explain elite runnings groups to me??

Because the group as a whole gets funded through OTC events/fundraiser/merchandise/donations to the group. If you just look on their website they sells shirts, hats shorts etc. that fund the group. You can also spend a certain amount of money per year to become a "member" of the group. All that funding goes towards the different coaches, athletes, etc.

Imagine having 10 different groups where you have to decide on "who should I donate to?" or "what team shirt should I buy?" Having everyone in one group just made it work better.

Rupp and the Schumacher Crew were never "officially" a part of the OTC, they just wore the OTC jerseys because they were a training group in Oregon sponsored by Nike.

This is just all a guess for me, but it makes sense.

there are three primary Nike training groups with three distinct coaches:

OTC Elite inEugene coaches by Mark Rowland

Oregon Project in Portland coached by Alberto Salazar

Rip City Track Club in Portland coached by Jerry Schumacher

There are a few exceptions I Eugene where Vin Lanana is still coaching a few athletes but the Portland groups have only one coach each.

In Scandinavia theres only athletic clubs. Nobody runs for a sponsor. You have to be member of a club.

That doesn't mean everyone is having the same coach, one club can have several different coaches, depends.

Its great, unlike college and temporary elite groups you get a sense of lojalty and a place where you belong. When your done with your career some always help out with their club for several years. Helping arranging meets, coach, manage the club etc.

Being in an athletic club provides you with money (depending on how good you are and how good the club is) and unless you're in a really small club theres the advantage of other runners to train with. The biggest running clubs is a magnet on good runners needing competition.

And everyone can join whatever club they want to join.

I suppose its something similiar with the advantages of being in the OTC.

But....if athletic clubs are unusual in America, where do guys who are finished with college/not going to college find a coach and a running group?

Right, it's about pooling (relatively scarce) resources. It's not like they play a team ball sport where they have to have their competitive tactics coordinated by a single coach, if anything it's a boon for a club to have multiple coaches that have unique coaching styles that can appeal to different types of athletes and therefore they can have several training groups from which potential member athletes can choose. A running club or group with a single coach is going to necessarily be constrained to that single variable. Plus coaching isn't the only thing crucial to racing success, there's also physio, nutrition, sports psych, access to strength training equipment, training and racing apparel and footwear, travel funds, etc. When you have a single group of significant size, you can more easily attract athletes who will be successful and in turn can more easily attract sponsorship to attach to that success.

Oregon loves runners wrote:

Because the group as a whole gets funded through OTC events/fundraiser/merchandise/donations to the group. If you just look on their website they sells shirts, hats shorts etc. that fund the group. You can also spend a certain amount of money per year to become a "member" of the group. All that funding goes towards the different coaches, athletes, etc.

Imagine having 10 different groups where you have to decide on "who should I donate to?" or "what team shirt should I buy?" Having everyone in one group just made it work better.

Rupp and the Schumacher Crew were never "officially" a part of the OTC, they just wore the OTC jerseys because they were a training group in Oregon sponsored by Nike.

This is just all a guess for me, but it makes sense.

Imagine OTC as the high school level Junior Olympic team that grabs some of the best athletes in every event across the state to make the best Junior Olympic team possible. The coach does not coach all these athletes and just wan'ts the team to look good so they fundraiser to get these kids to meets and in turn they wear their uniform.

The Oregon Project is more like the local coach that recruits all the kids in his area and actually coaches them on a daily basis. This club has a purpose to make the athletes better and to win championships while the other type of club is more of a marketing ploy so that everyone hears their name.

Athletic clubs have never been as big of a deal in the US as compared to Europe, which I assume is because of our absurd scholastic athletics system. Many of the European clubs I'm familiar with (in both athletics and various team sports), have one club that caters to youth through competitive adults, or at least college-aged kids and above. In the US, there's no real need for an athletics club until you're done with college. Most college athletes do not compete seriously after graduation, so there's a very small number of athletes in need of a good post-collegiate training group. That's not enough people to sustain European-style athletics clubs. Groups sometimes form spontaneously for a period of time, and then they disappear.

Still, in major cities, it's usually possible to find a group. Lots of running stores sponsor teams that are reasonably competitive. But it's true that you don't feel the same kind of loyalty to a running store team as you would to an athletics club that has nurtured you for a decade or more.

Oregon loves runners wrote:

Because the group as a whole gets funded through OTC events/fundraiser/merchandise/donations to the group. If you just look on their website they sells shirts, hats shorts etc. that fund the group. You can also spend a certain amount of money per year to become a "member" of the group. All that funding goes towards the different coaches, athletes, etc.

Imagine having 10 different groups where you have to decide on "who should I donate to?" or "what team shirt should I buy?" Having everyone in one group just made it work better.

Rupp and the Schumacher Crew were never "officially" a part of the OTC, they just wore the OTC jerseys because they were a training group in Oregon sponsored by Nike.

This is just all a guess for me, but it makes sense.

This is not correct. The funding from membership/clothing/etc that you see on the website goes to the general club and its operations. Nike is lone supporter (financially) of OTC Elite. In the beginning it used to be slightly different but it is seperate now.

Ridiculous.... wrote:

Imagine OTC as the high school level Junior Olympic team that grabs some of the best athletes in every event across the state to make the best Junior Olympic team possible. The coach does not coach all these athletes and just wan'ts the team to look good so they fundraiser to get these kids to meets and in turn they wear their uniform.

The Oregon Project is more like the local coach that recruits all the kids in his area and actually coaches them on a daily basis. This club has a purpose to make the athletes better and to win championships while the other type of club is more of a marketing ploy so that everyone hears their name.

Seriously?

While the OTC Elite is great marketing for the general club "brand" it is also great marketing for Nike (given they fund them it seems like they too want something out of it). I'd love to hear why you use the word "ploy". Other than to try and make something sound negative. Especially since NOP is in the exact same boat.

Beyond that the coaching/recruting system is the same. Other than the fact that NOP has a head coach and assistant. Both groups recruit and both groups have the same purpose/mission.

Given Nike's roots and OTC's connection with Eugene it makes a lot of sense for them to be doing what they are.

EKIN wrote:

there are three primary Nike training groups with three distinct coaches:

OTC Elite inEugene coaches by Mark Rowland

Oregon Project in Portland coached by Alberto Salazar

Rip City Track Club in Portland coached by Jerry Schumacher

There are a few exceptions I Eugene where Vin Lanana is still coaching a few athletes but the Portland groups have only one coach each.

OP, the above is/was the basic outline. Although, I don't think that Schumachers group is officially called anything at the moment.

The Eugene OTC group has always been the base group. Or the "real" OTC group. For whatever marketing/Oregon/etc. reason Nike decided to have the two Portland groups wear the OTC singlet. Yet, they were never "truly" OTC Elite in the sense that most people think of them, mostly just Nike. They only wore the singlet and ran under the name. There was some kind of disagreement between the two Portland groups that eventually caused Salazar to spin off into NOP. I think it was mostly competitive disagreement/identity issues.

I'm not entirely sure why Schumachers group stopped running under OTC this year. Someone else might know.

The OTC Elite group Eugene is much more of what you would expect given their name. The are more or less the Elite branch of the Eugene based Oregon Track Club. They come to the annual members banquets, they are required to be members in good standing of the Oregon Track Club (and have the same ID card as general members) they are involved in the local community/events. The biggest seperation is that Nike is the one funding them. The general club gets the benefit of the brand name recognition, I expect royalties from the use of the logo, etc. etc.

As far as Vin goes, although not listed on the website as a coach, he is much more involved with OTC Elite that most probably assume. I'd venture to guess that he was one of the main driving forces behind the creation of the elite branch when he arrived in Eugene.

Please listen to ecin. He speaks well on this subject.