Nick Willis and Ron Warhurst (and Nate Brannen) Launch Runners’ Wedding Service

by LetsRun.com
April 1, 2018

Two-time Olympic 1500m medallist Nick Willis and his famed coach, Ron Warhurst, announced today they are launching a running wedding service, W + W Weddings. For a fee, Willis and Warhurst (W + W), will come to your wedding or your rehearsal dinner and talk about whatever you want to talk about – running, Vietnam, fatherhood, Christianity, life in New Zealand, etc.

W + W had their first trial run last fall at the Jimmy Wyner and Steph Somerman wedding in Ann Arbor, attended by LetsRun.com founders Weldon and Robert Johnson, and it was a great success.

Nick Willis (l) and Ron Warhurst (r) with the groom, Jimmy Wyner at his rehearsal dinner Nick Willis (l) and Ron Warhurst (r) with the groom, Jimmy Wyner at his rehearsal dinner

“Nick’s got that great accent, and I’m a good-looking guy full of charm, so the ladies [at the wedding] loved us,” said Warhurst. “It’s a bit awkward with the guys as they just want to talk about running, but Nick and I understand they want to live vicariously through his exploits on the track.”

Even the sociable Wyner, a 3:41 1500m runner himself who is best known for pulling an Usain Bolt and celebrating during and eventually being disqualified from the 1500m at the 2009 Heptagonal (Ivy League) Championships, admitted he was a bit awkward with Willis.

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“I asked Nick, ‘So uhhh, did you do anything fun this summer?’ He said he had a good time in London. And I asked him what he was doing in London. He said competing at the World Championships…Oops. I was so totally starstruck, I forgot,” said Wyner. “The only other time I had ever got to chat with him was for like one second when I was standing next to him when I was rabbiting that adidas meet in Carson.”

LetsRun.com can also exclusively reveal that the real reason Olympian Nate Brannen retired this week was so he could operate the Canadian franchise of W + W. Willis and Brannen were teammates at Michigan and coached by Warhurst.

The groom (2nd from right) was cool with Usain Bolt after his first WR but nervous with Willis at the rehearsal dinner The groom (2nd from right) was cool with Usain Bolt after his first WR but nervous with Willis at the rehearsal dinner

“The current setup of  W + W with just Ron and Nick really wouldn’t work in Canada. Everyone knows Canadians like to drink. But Ron doesn’t drink at all, and Nick is still training, so people aren’t going to pay the big bucks for W + W to show up at a wedding in Canada if they’re going to be total teetotalers. No way was I going to let some beer miler beat me to this opportunity, so I decided to retire from professional running and jump at this opportunity,” said Brannen.

W + W may have the North American wedding market cornered now, but they are worried about the Centrowitzes, former American 5000m record holder Matt and his son, 1500m Olympic gold medallist, Matthew, joining the wedding market.

“They really know how to party and are probably willing to do some things I just won’t due to my Christian faith.” said Willis. “But I’ve got an idea. I’m going to approach them and offer them the bachelor and bachelorette party market. We’ll let them have that if they let us have the actual wedding and rehearsal dinner market. There is more than enough money to be made that there is no reason for us to invade each other’s turf. And I hope they absolutely crush it as Wyner showed me some of the pictures of what goes on at an American bachelor party and it blew my mind. If Centrowitz does more than a couple of those a year, there is no way he’ll be beating me at another Olympics.”

Seeing this photo was what sparked the Eureka moment for Willis and caused him to think he should offer the Centrowtiz's the bachelor and bachelorette party market Seeing this photo was what sparked the Eureka moment for Willis and caused him to think he should offer the Centrowitz’s the bachelor and bachelorette party market

On a related note, W + W said they will also be promoting the new running baby service LetsCrawl.pro which was launched today.

“It only makes sense that we try to make some money off of the result of our main business,” said Warhurst. “One of our key marketing points for W&W is that we promise the brides – whom we know normally control the budgets for the weddings – that we are family men who believe marriage is one hundred percent about starting a family and having children. Most women when they hear we’ll tell their husbands they really need to be more mature and have kids, they wire over a deposit before the call is even over.”

 

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