Diljeet Taylor is the Associate Director of Cross Country and Track and Field at BYU, where she’s coached since 2016. In 2019, her women’s cross-country team finished second at the NCAA championships—only six points behind Arkansas—and it was the first time the Cougars had been on the podium since 2003.
Matt Hart is the author of Win at All Costs: Inside Nike Running and Its Culture of Deception. His writing covers a wide swath of topics from sports science to adventure and exploration to performance-enhancing drugs, nutrition, evolution and more.
Carolyn Su is the creator of the @DiverseWeRun Instagram account, which she launched as a place to highlight runners from different backgrounds and share their stories with a wider audience.
Marquis Bowden is a 31-year-old runner who first came on my radar several weeks ago when I saw him featured in a film from Tracksmith called Race Day is (still) Sacred. A former college basketball player who says that running found him a few years ago, Marquis has big goals in the sport.
Gary Towne is one of the most underrated and under-appreciated collegiate coaches in the United States. He has coached cross-country and track at Chico State since 1996 and his Wildcats have been one of the top NCAA Division II programs in the country for over 20 years.
Elle Purrier runs professionally for New Balance Boston. The 25-year-old represented the United States at the 2019 world championships in Doha, where she finished 11th in the 5000m with a personal best of 14:58.17. Indoors this past winter, she broke the American record in the mile at the Millrose Games, running 4:16.85.
Kilian Jornet is one of the greatest endurance athletes of all-time. The 32-year-old Catalonian has won major ultramarathons like Western States, UTMB, Hardrock and others, he’s captured multiple world titles in ski mountaineering, and he holds fastest known times up and down Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, Denali, Everest, and other mountains.
Brett Bartholomew is one of the top strength and conditioning coaches in the world. He’s worked with a diverse range of athletes across 23 sports, at all levels ranging from youth to Olympians. He’s the author of the best-selling book Conscious Coaching: The Art and Science of Building Buy-In, which, as a disclaimer, I helped edit.
Matt Chittim is the man behind the incredibly popular Rambling Runner podcast, which is a show about dedicated amateur runners who are working hard at the sport but also balancing running with the rest of their lives. On the other end of the spectrum, he also hosted Season 1 of The Road to the Olympic Trials podcast, which followed the training, racing, and experiences of some of America’s best runners as they prepared for the Olympic Trials Marathon this past February in Atlanta.
Brenda Martinez is one of the best middle-distance runners in the world. She’s a got a silver medal in the 800m from the 2013 world championships, she was on the 2016 U.S. Olympic team in the 1500m, she’s won a national title, and has stood atop the podium at numerous other events.
