What's Next for Tinman Elite?

Same mission, new chapter. We’re excited to announce that Tinman Elite will be shifting our focus to the marathon distance in 2025. 

Our mission has always been to push the sport of running forward, and we believe this change will allow us to meet you where you’re at: on the start line, next to you. 

We’re eager to see what this next chapter will bring for Tinman Elite, as we rebuild our roster, reconnect with the community, and continue our pursuit of performance.

Read on for more on how we made this decision and what it means for the future:

How Did We Get Here?

Like many others in the running world, Tinman Elite’s team contract was up for renewal at the end of 2024. We worked hard, through performance, community outreach, and brand growth, to find a renewed relationship with adidas for the team and all of our athletes. As we approached the end of the year, it became clear that a “dream scenario” in which the athletes and coaches of Tinman Elite could all live under one umbrella wasn’t going to be our reality. In conversations internally and with adidas, there was mutual excitement and buy-in around shifting the team’s focus and roster toward the marathon distance. 

What Does This Change Mean for the Previous Roster?

This was one of the most nuanced and difficult questions for us to answer in this process. In the past eight years, we’ve become more than just teammates. We’ve been each other’s groomsmen, watched one another start families, supported each other during life upheavals and failures, and celebrated each other’s successes. Balancing a viable future for Tinman Elite with a desire to stick together was tricky. 

Fortunately, we’ve worked toward a solution that will allow for Drew, Sam, and Joey to continue training under Coach Hunter in Boulder. They’ll line up with the marathon team in training whenever possible, but you’ll see much less of them in our content as we all work to fulfill our varying sponsor requests and preferences. We’ll remain good buddies who share many runs and laughs together.

So, Where Does Tinman Elite Go From Here?

Great question. And one we’re looking forward to answering as transparently as possible. Our primary goal is to build a small but talented roster of marathon-focused athletes in the coming months. As our current roster is a meager two athletes, Reed Fischer and Connor Winter, priority #1 will be to bring in the right people. We’re looking forward to introducing you to them and sharing their stories. 

Beyond roster growth, we will work to connect with runners of all abilities at road races across the globe. This starts this week at the Boston Marathon, where you can join Reed for a group run on the Charles at 9am on Saturday, 4/18. Expect community events, exclusive product collections, and more at World Major Marathons and key road races moving forward. 

We will also continue to share our journey on YouTube, Instagram, and our other social channels. We’ve heard so many stories from all of you about how a video or piece of content helped you start running, motivate you to get out the door, or gave you a piece of info that helped unlock a PR on race day. Educational, transparent, and motivational content will remain integral to our efforts. 

Finally, our product collections and gear sales will continue—but will look a little different. We’re looking forward to creating product collections that are designed for and around legendary races like the World Major Marathons. With that said, we’ll continue to release “evergreen” gear periodically throughout the year, especially ahead of the holiday season.

Why Should I Keep Paying Attention?

Totally fair. We recognize that this is a huge shift. It’s a leap of faith for us—we might swing for the fences and strike out. We’re aware of that. If you’ve been following us in hopes that we’d fail and fade into obscurity, we hope you’ll follow along to see if that comes true. We hope even more strongly that we’ll prove you wrong, just as we’ve been doing for eight years. If you’ve been following our story to root for us, we hope you’ll be drawn to the inherently “different” nature of our team: self-governed, vulnerable in what we share, and open to criticism. That will all remain true as we enter this rebuilding phase, and we hope you’ll enjoy following the process. Whichever camp you fall into, we hope you’ll pay attention because we earn your attention through race results, community events, and content.

More to come as we head into the next chapter for Tinman Elite. Whether you’ve been around since day one or just found us today, we’re grateful to have you with us and hope you’ll stick around for the ride. We’ll do our best to make it worth your while.
🖤 ⚒️