Random question but how much $$ do you think Sowinski gets paid for one of these pacing gigs? Like these elite indoor 1500s he's been pacing overseas recently.
OP. I'm laughing SO SO hard. I came to the fourm to see if there was a thread about how Sowinski is featured in the NY Times and then saw your post. Amazing.
He is missing one thing, however: a sponsor. Sowinski has been searching for a shoe deal since his contract with Brooks ended in 2020. Meet directors pay him — Sowinski declined to cite specific figures — but pacing is not a lucrative profession.
“I’d love to do this for another year or two, but I need to figure something out,” he said.
Oddly enough, few runners are more visible. Sowinski is guaranteed to lead the field for the first half of nearly every race that he enters, and many of them are televised.
This post was edited 3 minutes after it was posted.
Sowinski’s best move is to invest in the entity that will put him out of work, an entity the kernel of which has been staring him in the foot for a few years now. That kernel is wave-light tech and its future expression is a device generating a simulated Sowinski, a hologram--a swift and reliable Blue Man, a virtual Prefontaine, a virtual Tirop--that paces perfectly and packs away easy as a stack of training cones.
Sowinski’s best move is to invest in the entity that will put him out of work, an entity the kernel of which has been staring him in the foot for a few years now. That kernel is wave-light tech and its future expression is a device generating a simulated Sowinski, a hologram--a swift and reliable Blue Man, a virtual Prefontaine, a virtual Tirop--that paces perfectly and packs away easy as a stack of training cones.
It won't be the same as having an actual person to draft off of though.
Has he not even got a sniff from Rabbit Running? Sport their gear at races. Have him on the start line gnawing on a carrot and when the camera pans him, he mimes "what's up doc".
Let me start off by saying that I like Erik Sowinski and think he does a great service to the sport by accurately pacing fast times in big meets. He's still nationally competitive in the 800 and I tend to root for him when he competes on his own. I've seen a few posts recently advocating that he gets a sponsorship since he's constantly at the front of top level international races. I think that makes some sense for a company to get their uniform in front of eyeballs.
I believe that one of the main reasons Erik hasn't landed a coveted sponsorship yet is because Erik isn't maximizing his marketability by drawing more eyeballs to him during races. He needs to up the drip, up the swagger, to establish and show off the world class athlete he truly is. He's always wearing the same uniform, the same hairstyle; he never mixes it up.
I'm talking wild changing hairstyles like prime David Beckham. I'm talking big fat gold chains bouncing around like Dominican MLB batters. I'm talking about speedsuits. I want to see Erik show up to a start line with a mohawk, an old school sweatband around his head, and a silly little hipster mustache. I want to see him step off the track after hitting splits perfectly and then showboating to the crowd. I'd love an indoor race where he holds up the starter while some dramatic walk-out music plays for him to enter the arena, like he's a WWE villian or that one relief pitcher for the NY Mets.
This thread is for other LetsRun posters to throw out their genius ideas for Erik Sowinski to up the entertainment value and land that sweet sweet sponsor money!!
This is the silliest idea I’ve heard, but brilliant at the same time. You are correct. Any sponsor with a clue should recognize ES is the most consistent, reliable pacer and a workhorse. Meet organizers will employ him regularly b/c they know they can count on him to deliver. Dont know about the mohawk and chains, but I dont have a better idea, so lets go with it. Maybe a glance or 2 at the crowd and encouraging them to cheer would even help.
A) A bit tongue in cheek, but in interviews, especially with mainstream media, he should say that no one has run as much in front of the best runners of the world (and some of the best of all times) as he have.
B) At every time he steps to the side after successfully rabbiting the field he should make a big pointing gesture to his wrist and give a big thumbs up to the crowd/camera. After a few races he will have a big expensive watch on that arm and an even bigger payment in his bank account. *commercial with shots of athletes lining up and running is crosscut with a smart business man/woman hurrying to be on time for a meeting* "The world of athletics, where a tenth of a second can be far too late. On time *showing Sowinski doing his watch gesture - then the business person reaching the meeting just at the right time*, just like seiko/rolex/philippe p/omega".
Let me start off by saying that I like Erik Sowinski and think he does a great service to the sport by accurately pacing fast times in big meets. He's still nationally competitive in the 800 and I tend to root for him when he competes on his own. I've seen a few posts recently advocating that he gets a sponsorship since he's constantly at the front of top level international races. I think that makes some sense for a company to get their uniform in front of eyeballs.
I believe that one of the main reasons Erik hasn't landed a coveted sponsorship yet is because Erik isn't maximizing his marketability by drawing more eyeballs to him during races. He needs to up the drip, up the swagger, to establish and show off the world class athlete he truly is. He's always wearing the same uniform, the same hairstyle; he never mixes it up.
I'm talking wild changing hairstyles like prime David Beckham. I'm talking big fat gold chains bouncing around like Dominican MLB batters. I'm talking about speedsuits. I want to see Erik show up to a start line with a mohawk, an old school sweatband around his head, and a silly little hipster mustache. I want to see him step off the track after hitting splits perfectly and then showboating to the crowd. I'd love an indoor race where he holds up the starter while some dramatic walk-out music plays for him to enter the arena, like he's a WWE villian or that one relief pitcher for the NY Mets.
This thread is for other LetsRun posters to throw out their genius ideas for Erik Sowinski to up the entertainment value and land that sweet sweet sponsor money!!
There is only one path forward for Sowinski if he wants any relevance at all. It's not a new hairstyle, or chain, or walkout music. Quite simply, he needs to join On Athletics and pull 75 year-old Jim Ryun to a sub-4:00 at BU (if he was wearing super shoes and coached by Ritz). Nothing else is newsworthy about Track and Field except long-legged Ryun chasing history and glory for all the baby boomers.
On second thought, if Sowinski were to get cryogenically frozen and help pace a Cam Myers vs. Ryun (also cryogenically frozen) showdown in 2082 at age 75, that could also get him some headlines.
I can't believe he can't get a shoe deal. Any JoShmo clicking on a track meet would have zero clue about a pacer and see him upfront with a shoe logo on him. Off the top of my head:
- FedEx or UPS. On Time.....Guaranteed.
- Domino's. Fast or it's Free.
- Brazzers Porn. We C+m on Time.
- Pearl Drums. Timing is Everything.
- LetsRun. It's a Great Time......Just Don't Read our Message Boards. (I kid, I kid)
I was thinking recently, as ES has been ubiquitous this past month, why wouldn’t a team like OAC pick him up? They have a group of mid distance guys who will be on the world scene for the foreseeable Olympic cycles. Wouldn’t it help them to get used to the premier pacer in practice? And he to them?
I want to bump this thread up for another weekend so Erik has a chance to see all these great ideas. Here’s another silly idea for Erik to ruminate over this weekend:
Step 1: Dual citizenship with the African Republic of Chad. Shouldn’t be that hard, right?
Step 2: Land a sponsorship with Richard Mille watches: the “Chad” of luxury timepieces (and competitor to watchmaker IWC, who sponsors Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in F1).
Step 3: Erik represents Chad at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest in the 800, 1500, and 5000 meters. He only races in the 800 and serves as a pacemaker in the 1500 and 5K.
Step 4: Erik sews a ridiculously oversized pocket to the front of his Chad uniform, with enough space to store Richard Mille’s largest-faced timepiece as a pocketwatch.
Step 5: Red Bull and Oakley sponsorship. Because Chad.
Step 6: Erik shows up to the start line of the 1500 and 5K heats at worlds in Oakley ski goggles, a literal Richard Mille pocketwatch, a uniform that says “CHAD” and a can of Red Bull. During introductions, he points to the camera and says “I’m coming for you, Lewis Hamilton!”
Step 7: Erik hits his splits perfectly, griddy’s to the nearest camera, does a couple of those “flossing” dance moves, then takes out his Richard Mille pocket watch and holds it in front of the camera like the Pokémon, Hypno. He says “that’s right Lewis Hamilton, nobody hits splits to the hundredth like me with my Richard Mille watch.”
Step 8: Extremely aggressive social media posts.
Step 9: Millions in sponsorship money from manufactured outrage.