David Torrence Responds To John Bingham: The blaming of the elites has to stop

As for my thoughts? I'm reminded of the famous Rodney King line, "Can we all just get along?"

The fast people (I hate the word elite) should recognize that getting off the couch and even starting to run is a truly incredible accomplishment for many struggling with high BMI's and a lifetime of inactivity. Fast people, you are not better than someone simply because you are faster, you may just be naturally way more talented.

At the same time, the masses should also appreciate what the fast people/professionals do. Yes, someone like world championship silver medallist Jenny Simpson is incredibly talented but she's also worked incredibly hard for the last decade - two, three, four,hours a day on her craft, day after day.

John Bingham is rightly famous for saying there is no litmus test to being a runner:

"If you are a runner, it doesn't matter how far or how fast. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run."

It would be great though if he could add:

"PS. But let's be inspired and amazed by those guys and gals up front. They remind us that the sport is always about pushing for more. Even the world record holders always think they are capable of achieving more in the future and so should we."

-Robert

Maybe that's a little too feel goody for you?

Well I came across a Penguin bumper sticker on a blog. It has a picture of a penguin and says, "I'm slow. I know. Get over it."

Maybe there should be a similar bumper sticker with a stick figure on it that says, "I'm fast. I know. Get over it."

Regarding his comments on track not being inherently boring, I'm a fan of track and I "KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON" and these sit and kick distance races still bore me. I want to see an honest race not a bunch of people running tempo pace or slower.

We have this quote from Bingham: "I stood at the finish line of the RnR Philly race yesterday until everyone had finished. Everyone’s effort was celebrated. I invite ANY winner of ANY race to join me instead of rushing back to their hotel after the awards ceremony. I guarantee that the first “elite” to show even a LITTLE interest in the rest of the pack will become a hero overnight."

Just this past weekend some of the elites, including Jenny Simpson, did stay at the finish and cheer on non-elites coming in. I doubt this is the first time that has happened. So are they heroes overnight like Bingham promised? If Bingham wants to criticize elites for not doing enough to promote the sport or give back to the running community that's fine. But he should be honest about what the elites ARE doing. If he continues to be disingenuous about it I'll wonder whether he is not trying to position himself with the masses in opposition to the elites to benefit himself.

mmuh wrote:

Regarding his comments on track not being inherently boring, I'm a fan of track and I "KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON" and these sit and kick distance races still bore me. I want to see an honest race not a bunch of people running tempo pace or slower.

This ^

Yes, a very good letter. I'm impressed with his actions at meets!

Here is a tip about track meets being boring: when there isn't much action on the track, you can watch field events (these are often very exciting).

Joan Benoit Samuelson stood at the finish line at the Tufts 10k a couple years ago and greeted me as well as many of the other women right after she finished her own race. I'm sure it wasn't the first time she has done that.

Obviously Bigham isn't aware of what elite are doing.

Bingham is clearly anti-elite and pretty much anti-anyone who wants to run fast. The reality is that Bingham doesn’t make $$ on promoting the sport or championing elites. He demands respects for the back of the packers and gives none to anyone else. He preaches this idea that slower runners are the only true heroes of the sport and the ones having fun. Perhaps worst of all Bingham fosters this “us vs. them” mentality that is truly detrimental to the sport.

David Torrence posts in my running subreddit and often helps out super casual runners. He's legit. He practices what he preaches.

Anyways, most elite runners just want to run, and who can blame them? I actually think it's our responsibility as fans of the sport to get casual runners interested in the top end of the sport.

Bigham is bad wrote:

Obviously Bigham isn't aware of what elite are doing.

Bingham is clearly anti-elite and pretty much anti-anyone who wants to run fast. The reality is that Bingham doesn’t make $$ on promoting the sport or championing elites. He demands respects for the back of the packers and gives none to anyone else. He preaches this idea that slower runners are the only true heroes of the sport and the ones having fun. Perhaps worst of all Bingham fosters this “us vs. them” mentality that is truly detrimental to the sport.

This is right out of the cross-fit marketing book.

to be fair to bingham, when he says elites, he means ryan hall, kara goucher, maybe kip lagat, maybe ritz - guys who people have heard of. the people on the marathon advertising posters.

I love Torrence - great runner and I was glad to learn what he does off the track. I hope he makes a national team, wins a medal and gets famous. he is certainly doing more than his fair share.

But what the sport needs is charismatic medalists - and right now KGoucher and Ryan Hall are about all we got. Change that, and the sport changes.

A lot of the discussion prompted by Reavis has to do with non-American elites and their agents, who ghost into events, crowd the top spots, collect their check and are gone. Little to no effort to promote the event, themselves, the sport, nada. Knowledgeable fans don't even have an idea of who won or the details of the racing up front or what race the hot runners are off to next. Basically any coherent way to follow the sport or its athletes.

There's a lot of production value lost in the way NBC and USATF present their meets on television. Just look to Universal Sports at how it can be done to maximize interest and excitement. The lack of promotion of its athletes is a huge problem for the sport. NBC does all the leg work on this and the result is a focus on Lolo Jones, Allison Felix, Jen Suhr, Tyson Gay, Bernard Lagat, and that's pretty much it. Maybe Ryan Hall if it's a marathon. Torrence echos this (and alludes to the NBA model) and Reavis writes about it all the time. Why doesn't USATF market its athletes? Why does USATF limit the individual sponsorship and earning power of its athletes, which would naturally lead to more marketing of its athletes?

The athlete zone idea is a solid one. At the national meet I attend each year there's a large fan pavilion with Nike gear, and a bunch of Nike athletes competing in the events. I've always wondered why there isn't a stream of Nike athlete appearances at the gear pavilion just to say hello, answer a few questions, sign for 10min for the kids or whatever, talk about their sponsor, favorite pieces of gear, coming race schedule, website or twitter feed...then 20min later another athlete appearance. This would be awesome.

a group cool down with elites is a great idea - after healthy kidney, nyc half, falmouth, etc.

agip wrote:

But what the sport needs is charismatic medalists - and right now KGoucher and Ryan Hall are about all we got. Change that, and the sport changes.

I'd add Lagat and Symmonds to this list. Easily the most charismatic elite level distance runners we've got.

xenonscreams wrote:

David Torrence posts in my running subreddit and often helps out super casual runners. He's legit. He practices what he preaches.

Anyways, most elite runners just want to run, and who can blame them? I actually think it's our responsibility as fans of the sport to get casual runners interested in the top end of the sport.

David Torrance posts on Reddit for super casual fans as well. You'd think Bingham would know that if he is active there as well. I guess my initial suspicions were correct and Bingham--as others have suggested--is just trying endear himself to insecure beginners in order to sell books. LRC and Toni Reavis shouldn't be giving this guy a platform.

And just in case there is any doubt: I am very much a back-of-the-packer myself and have no personal stake in promoting elite running apart from as a fan.

agip wrote:

to be fair to bingham, when he says elites, he means ryan hall, kara goucher, maybe kip lagat, maybe ritz - guys who people have heard of. the people on the marathon advertising posters.

.

that's kind of the problem. bingham and his ilk only know about 1 or 2 elite runners and Dean Karnazes

waddle on.

Bigham is bad wrote:

Obviously Bigham isn't aware of what elite are doing.

Bingham is clearly anti-elite and pretty much anti-anyone who wants to run fast. The reality is that Bingham doesn’t make $$ on promoting the sport or championing elites. He demands respects for the back of the packers and gives none to anyone else. He preaches this idea that slower runners are the only true heroes of the sport and the ones having fun. Perhaps worst of all Bingham fosters this “us vs. them” mentality that is truly detrimental to the sport.

Makes you wonder who he voted for in the presidential election.

Torrence is a great guy and he's really even understating how much he's reached out to the "average" runner. Go read his posts on reddit under "dtrunsthis". He answers questions about everything from his own elite training to little beginner tips.

I have to also throw in something that's not being talked about in all this runner vs penguin business. The implication behind getting people off the couch is that it'll make them healthy. If this is what we're getting at then the advocates and role models pushed the most should be advocating health first and not just blind participation. That means getting more people running on a consistent basis, not just getting race entries up. For this I think Bingham should be given a back seat to some other people because I don't think he's done anything to increase the number of people who actually run outside of races. For one, there's a guy who lives near me named Mark Cucuzzella. He's had a couple articles in Running Times because of his promotion of minimalist running but in the area of getting more active I think he's been hugely overlooked. He directs a bunch of races every year that encourages people of all ages and fitness levels to participate and he himself is a serious runner(2:38 at age 44). Surrounding that he does a bunch of stuff in the community to promote health, including running a shoe store where anyone can come in and get advice on how to approach running in a healthy manner. I've personally seen how the number of runners around here has grown because of his efforts. Ten years ago the only runners around here were high school kids and a few older people doing road races. Now you can go on the C&O Canal any day of the week and see all different kinds of people running. If this getting people off the couch business is more than just lip-service to sell books and magazines then that's the kind of community-based example that should be promoted and replicated.

agip wrote:to be fair to bingham, when he says elites, he means ryan hall, kara goucher, maybe kip lagat, maybe ritz - guys who people have heard of. the people on the marathon advertising posters.

All of these people interact with fans voluntarily and also show up at expos, or at least the marathoners do, to talk, answer questions, sit at booths, sign autographs, and so on. There's maybe more that they could do, but American marathoners interacting with fans is not the basic problem. Non-English speaking road racers who show up, run, take their prize money and go home are a problem but there's not much to do about that.

The basic problem is that each athlete is an independent contractor mostly working on his or her own just using social media. That is just inherently limited. Even for top Nike athletes the publicity is very half hearted. The last commercial I can remember is the one with Ashton Eaton and Allyson Felix, and if you weren't already a fan you wouldn't have even known who they are.

Nike, USATF or somebody else with real resources needs to have some sort of publicity plan to build up athletes, competitions, rivalries, etc and let the general public know who these athletes are.

I think Bingham and Competitor see elites as being bad for business. During the first running boom, participation in the sport came from the front end of the athletic bell curve for the general population. People did not run marathons to be social, to raise money, for a personal interest type story (family member suffers from ____ disease, etc.) or to battle obesity. People who ran marathons were those who were strong athletes who wanted the ultimate challenge.

If this were the message/marketing for marathons today, Competitor's RnR races and Bingham's business would go bust. Competitor and Bingham need the sport to be focused on individual experiences and not on athletic accomplishment. They need to have the sport select from the middle to back end of the athletic bell curve for the general population because that is where the big numbers are for their events. Competitor and Bingham do not want people to associate the marathon/distance running with athletic achievement because they are afraid that it will limit the market by making people feel like they should not be out there racing with people who run the event in half they time they take.

Of course this is an extremely short sighted approach. Most every other sport with major amateur participation generously rewards and celebrates their elites, even when US success has been fleeting (i.e. Tennis). But the tail wagging the dog approach (elites must show they like amateurs before they will get support) is silly and does not exist in any other sport.