David Kilgore serves as the Trail and Ultrarunning Athlete Manager for On Running. In this conversation we talk about how he got his role at the company, his advice for navigating the negotiation process as a potential sponsored athlete, whether athletes can focus on both performance and social media, and whether the time is ripe for the formation of brand-sponsored trail running teams.
Sponsors:
- Kodiak Cakes - use Singletrack15 at checkout to get 15% off your next order.
- InsideTracker - go to insidetracker.com/singletrack to get 20% off your next order.
- For Athletic Greens, go to athleticgreens.com/singletrack to get a subscription discount, free Vitamin D for a year, and 5 free travel packs.
Timestamps:
(0:34) - Alaska Cirque Series race, Cyclon program
(4:57) - how David got into his role at On Running and helped build their trail and ultrarunning team
(7:34) - how David thinks about scouting for and recruiting athletes to the On Running team
(10:06) - advice for how prospective sponsored athletes should reach out to brands like On
(13:06) - How athletes can understand their value to the brand and negotiate contracts better
(21:42) - the percentage of athletes that are full-time versus part-time on the On team roster
(24:15) - whether athletes can perform well and do social media well at the same time
(30:59) - thoughts on whether we will see trail running teams form any time soon
(35:58) - whether current and future athletes will need to take trail and ultrarunning full-time
(37:47) - miscellaneous questions
Additional Episodes You May Enjoy:
#99 - Robert Muecke | How Adidas Terrex Is Building Their Trail Running Team
#98 - Steff Gardner | How Salomon Is Building Their North American Trail Running Team
Follow Singletrack on Instagram:
www.instagram.com/runsingletrack/
Subscribe to Singletrack on Apple:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/singletrack/id1572382413
Subscribe to Singletrack on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/7jAsWCRNSCU8nh81vrAaC2?si=3ac02e4e32b946c4
