A 22-year-old Canadian college student became the first beer miler to score a shoe contract Tuesday, with the announcement of a two-year Brooks sponsorship.
Lewis Kent went public with the deal the same day he broke the world record in the event. At sundown on a deserted track in London, Ontario, Kent ran four laps and chugged a beer before each one. He finished in 4:51.9, cutting the previous mark by nearly three seconds. The video of the feat has more then 24,000 views on YouTube.
“I think this is amazing,” Kent told Runner's World. “The bigger the beer mile gets, the more fun it’s going to be.”
Director of Special Projects beer mile has surged in popularity over the past three years, largely led by the website Beermile.com, which tracks international records. FloTrack, a track and field video and news service, hosted the Adidas Unveils Boston Marathon Jacket I think this is amazing, Kent told.
Kent, who is a senior for the University of Western Ontario track team, ran his first beer mile for fun in just over six minutes. He started taking the sport seriously when he realized a 5:30 would qualify him for the 2014 FloTrack Beer Mile World Championships. Though Kent’s college coaches don't condone his beer endeavors, they allow him to compete as long as it does not interfere with his regular training.
“Honestly, this time last year I thought there would only be one international beer mile ever held,” Kent said. He had no idea how big the sport would get. Kent went on to win The Beer Mile Classic, another international competition held in San Francisco this past summer.
In August, he briefly held the world record at 4:55.8. Though it was later broken by Corey Gallagher in October, Kent’s friends suggested he connect with a sports agent to see if he could earn a sponsorship. He first met with Brooks Canada in October.
“A big part of our brand is personality, we are a little bit different,” Jenine LaFayette, a marketing manager for Brooks Canada, said. “The culture of running and beer is not new. We are still dipping our toes into what the beer mile means.”
Neither Kent nor LaFayette would disclose the terms of the sponsorship, but LaFayette did say Brooks will be providing a racing kit and shoes for Kent’s appearance at the FloTrack Beer Mile World Championships next month in Austin, Texas.
There are no official plans from Brooks to develop beer mile specific apparel or shoes, but LaFayette did mention the company might consider it. “Maybe we will need to look at developing a beer proof version of our track spikes,” she said.
Kit has been a health, fitness, and running journalist for the past five years. His work has taken him across the country, from Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, to cover the 2016 Olympic Trials to the top of Mt. Katahdin in Maine to cover Scott Jurek’s record-breaking Appalachian Trail thru-hike in 2015.
