Tag: sponsorship

Every Runner is a Pro with SaltyValu™ Professional Running Team!
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As a SaltyValu Pro you can get on the cover of RunnerMag!If you’re like most American runners, you grew up with dreams of becoming a professional athlete. But, like most Americans, discovered training is kinda hard, so you turned your sights on something anyone can do to achieve fame, fortune and followers. First you blogged. Then you ‘grammed. Then you even podcasted. But that big sponsorship never seemed to materialize.

And that is no fair!

Everyone who has ever run is a serious runner. Every runner deserves a special port-a-potty. And every runner is just as inspiring as an Olympian. Sure maybe you don’t actually take running that seriously, and maybe you haven’t dedicated your life to the sport. Maybe you don’t even know what the rules are, but so what? You deserve all the adjectives, perks, and respect you bigly dream of.

Normally, getting signed as a professional athlete requires years of intense training, many sacrifices, incredibly hard work, good genes, and toughness beyond the wildest dreams of mere mortals. Remember when sport was about pushing the physical limits of humankind?

Not anymore! Now you—yes you!—can have it all with a spot on the SaltyValu™ Pro® Running Team.   Read more >>

So You Wanna Be a Brand Ambassador?
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my name is
It could be you! Image via wikimedia commons.

Think you have to run elite level race times for a company to want to sponsor you? Think again! Local elites, age-groupers, mid and back-o-the packers can all get the backing of a sponsor if they want to. Companies that provide products and services for athletes are clamoring to have you on their team!  However, instead of the typical sponsor-athlete relationship where a world or national class athlete exclusively uses the sponsors product in exchange for product and possibly other support of her training, the relationship between us average athletes and sponsors is different. We are expected to do more than run wearing a logo: we are expected to be “brand ambassadors.”

I am a proud brand ambassador for a company called Simple Hydration, as you might have gathered when I hosted a giveaway last month. I love being a brand ambassador and thought you might too, so today I’m going to explain the ins and outs of being a sponsored moral runner by becoming a brand ambassador! Read more >>

Elite Running is Hard, and Competitor’s Corpo BS Just Made it Harder
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Rock & Roll Is Dead
Dozens of running events all over the nation have been bought up by CGI’s Rock n’ Roll race series, and now they’re cancelling financial incentives for pro runners. There’s more to the story than meets the eye, but what are the implications here? img. via Wikipedia

As was first reported on RunBlogRun, this weekend Competitor Group, Inc. (CGI), owner of the Rock and Roll race series, the Carlsbad 5000 and numerous running, cycling and triathlon-related publications (including Women’s Running Magazine) announced they are cancelling their elite athlete program for the North American races in their series, effective immediately.  Meaning right now.  Meaning athletes who were all set to race in Philly in two weeks have had their appearance and travel fees pulled.

A Race Results Weekly article quoted CGI’s elite athlete coordinator Matt Turnbull: “Competitor Group has made a strategic business decision to shift resources in the business. As a consequence the Elite Athlete Program in all North American events has been cancelled with immediate effect.” Essentially, CGI will no longer be paying appearance fees or travel and accommodation costs to elite and professional athletes who compete in their races. Prize money, which has already been slashed over the recent years, will remain … for now.

It’s no surprise that this seemingly abrupt change of policy has sent the running media into a bit of a frenzy. Some, including commenters on this LetsRun thread felt it was a prudent decision, that the money spent on the few speediest runners is better spent providing more perks to the majority of the participants. Others, like American 50k record holder Josh Cox, see it as a statement about the overall state of elite running in the U.S. and a wake up call to the elite and pro ranks to work harder to market themselves. Many agree with part of Cox’s statement, saying that this is emblematic of the overall decline in the support and quality of elite and professional running in the U.S.

Personally, I have a different take. Read more >>