How I Pitched This — The Marathon Project for the New York Times

HOKA ONE ONE is one of the central clients on the OutsidePR roster, and such a fast-growing and complex client requires a lot of client management; in particular, conference calls. They’re not drudgery, thankfully, as the communications staff in Goleta are universally engaging, supportive and fun to work with. There’s a biweekly call, a monthly check-in with AZIONE (their lifestyle PR agency) and as of mid-2020, a monthly call with Ben Rosario, the founder and head coach of the brand’s most prominent sponsorship partner, HOKA NAZ Elite.
The NAZ Elite team boasts runners such as Olympic Trials Marathon champion, Aliphine Tuliamuk, as well as a score of other elite athletes, and the stories they produce are a key part of the brand’s identity. Thus, the monthly touch-points.

During our late-October call in 2020, Ben mentioned that several of his runners were competing in The Marathon Project, a 26.2-mile proving ground for NAZ Elite runners to test their fitness. More importantly, Ben had partnered with other top running coaches, managers and athletes to build out an invitation-only field that would promote fast times and heightened competition.

“We had to do this from scratch, ourselves,” said Ben. “Because the USATF hasn’t provided any competitive opportunities since COVID started. Which is a bummer. You look at the NBA, Major League Baseball, they’ve all figured out a way to get their competitions going, but we’ve all been left with nothing other than what we can organize ourselves.”

Now, that was interesting. And correct. Even though running’s governing body would later go on to support The Marathon Project and secure TV broadcasting, professional running had been barren since mid-March. 

“It’s like drama club,” I said, jokingly. “Let’s put on a play!” Ben laughed and agreed, saying, “It’s true. They’re frothing to run fast,” to which I added, “They’re like Border Collies -- they have to do work.”

Knowing that core running outlets like LetsRun.com would likely already be covering the race, scheduled for mid-December, I decided to pitch The New York Times on the idea. The Times features robust running coverage, recognizing that the high-level pressures and suffering of the industry makes for compelling stories — stories like Alyson Felix’s, Mary Cain’s and Kara Goucher’s.

Jen Miller is a freelancer who writes their regular running newsletter, and Lindsey Crouse is the writer/documentarian who broke some of the Times’ most impactful stories, but for this piece, I wanted to reach out to Talya Minsberg. Talya is a writer and editor in the sports department who is not only a runner herself, but also an advocate for the sport with a keen eye for personal interest stories.

And so, that day (October 23rd), I wrote an email to Talya that said:

Hey Talya, it's Gordon Wright at OutsidePR. I was on the phone today with Ben Rosario, the founder and coach of the HOKA NAZ Elite race team (home to Aliphine Tuliamuk, Scott Fauble, Kellyn Taylor, Steph Bruce, et al), and congratulated him on the team's win at the inaugural Michigan Pro Ekiden.

It's one in a series of events created by, and staged by, the athletes, coaches and managers themselves. You've probably seen the great work that the Bowerman TC has been doing, and there's another bright light coming up: The Marathon Project.

Ben pointed out how this intensely community-driven effort is entirely communal. Former competitors (Atlanta TC, Bowerman, HOKA NAZ Elite, Hansons-Brooks) are just collaborating, and making the events happen. 

And then we started joking, "Runners are like border collies! They have to stay busy!" "Runners are like drama club teens, 'Let's make a play!'"

But Ben brought a serious note. He pointed out that unlike pro team organizations like the NBA, the USATF has not done...well anything really to date. Paralyzed by COVID, as most of us are, they've largely left the athletes to figure things out on their own.

And they have. 

I have a lot of good information on how they're taking COVID precautions (Bowerman TC was slated to run in the Ekiden, but cancelled due to a potential virus exposure). 

With The Marathon Project looming, I thought I'd bring the issue to you. The field is absolutely stellar and nearly matches a US Olympic Trials in quality (though not in quantity).

Let me know if you'd like to connect with Ben, and thanks very much for the consideration,

g

It took three weeks, but I heard back from Talya with encouraging (for a publicist) news:

Hey Gordon,

Wanted to apologize for my delay here! Thanks for reaching out with this, I appreciate you keeping me in the loop. Keeping an eye on Marathon Project news and will be in touch if we decide to cover ... 

Stay well,

Talya

But of course, three weeks is an eternity for a publicist, so while Talya was mulling my pitch, I saw another running-related piece in the Times that had been written by an old friend and freelancer, Michelle Hamilton. So, I decided to pitch her on October 31st, with an email that was part check-in, part tease:

Michelle, I've been saving this NYTimes sports section on my desk for two weeks now, and am just getting around to congratulating you on a terrific piece. Lauren is, of course, an amazing subject for the Times, and I have to think that it resonated loudly for elite women across the country.

 If you're game, I have another pitch for you. Sort of client-related, but not really, so let me know if it's ok to run past you. 

Hope you're doing ... as well as can be expected and catch me up on what you're doing!

g

Michelle got back to me a couple of days later, on November 2nd:

Gordon! 

What a pleasure to get this email. Thank you for the kind words on the piece. I am thrilled about it. I followed Lauren's work for a few years before finding the right topic to write about. Hope it has resonated with women and men and all coaches and athletes. 

Of course I welcome a pitch! Send along, call, any format good with me. 

As for what I'm up to: 

Moved to Bend, Oregon a year ago to get back west (from Connecticut, where we were for my husband's job). 

Still freelance but have widened clients to include nonprofits, so am doing some fascinating work in advocacy and policy (interviews, writing reports). Journalism remains my first love, so still finding the stories I love and really want to write (like the Fleshman piece). 

Also working on a book (my own, not sold yet)...

Anyway, more than you likely bargained for! Thanks for asking. 

Along with pitch, send update!

So, I did. It was basically the identical pitch I had sent to Talya, along with catching up with Michelle. She replied on November 3rd:

Hey, I love this. Is there anything better than being handed a story?! :-) You've written part of it. 

Seriously though. This feels like a great approach, less about time and place and all about community and the spirit of competition. 

Let me wrap my head around it more fully tomorrow and reach out to Josh Cox (saw he was contact for the Marathon). I'd love an intro to Ben, too. I've never spoken him but am deeply impressed with what he's done with HOKA NAZ...

Thanks again and great to reconnect.

Michelle

I quickly connected her with Ben, and then had to wait. Which is the hardest thing to do for a publicist, so on November 20th, I sent this note to Talya:

Hi, Talya — I'm not going to hammer you with updates, but I was on a call with Kellyn Taylor's coach, Ben Rosario, today, and he said, "The plan is for Kellyn and Sara Hall to make a full-on effort at Deena Kastor's American Record at The Marathon Project."

That perked my ears up, so I asked if I could tell the press and he said, "Well, it depends. Letsrun.com? No, but if like the New York Times wanted to run with it I wouldn't mind..."

That's when I told him that the event was already on your radar, which is what passes for fun in the PR world.

Anyhow, I highly doubt Deena's record is going to fall. At 2:19 and change, that's still three minutes faster than Sara's PB, and seven minutes clear of Kellyn's. But Sara, as you know, is crushing her PBs left and right this year and Kellyn is evidently in the shape of her life, so ... could be interesting.

That's it from the marathon desk until further notice.

g

I later learned that Michelle had, by this time, pitched her on The Marathon Project, and they were interested in assigning it, but wanted to wait to publish it to see if the times and competition would live up what we had promised. 

Thankfully for all involved, the competition was blistering. Sara Hall ran the 2nd-fastest American women’s marathon of all time in 2:20 while Kellyn ran boldly into third with a personal best 2:25. On the men’s side, Martin Hehir ran an out-of-nowhere sub-2:09, a stunning time for a full-time medical student.

That was all The Times needed, and on December 21st, Michelle Hamilton’s byline was on this piece, titled Runners’ Races Were Canceled. Their Coaches Filled the Void.

It’s a prestigious notch on our pitching belt, but more importantly, it highlighted the resourcefulness of coaches like Ben, increased their renown, and celebrated the hard work that the athletes had been putting in during the toughest year of their lives.