On the eve of the 130th Boston Marathon, debate erupted on social media after Nike admitted it “missed the mark” with a sign on its Newbury Street store that read, “Runners welcome. Walkers tolerated.”
Runners sounded off on the banner over the weekend after Nike confirmed it removed the sign from the store’s facade.
Some said that the Boston Marathon is designed to be exclusive, meant for the world’s fastest long-distance runners. Others called the sign offensive to participants with disabilities and those running for charities.
The Back of the Pack podcast slammed Nike, saying “elitist snobbery just oozed off that poster.”
“You’re saying you only ‘tolerate’ back-of-the-pack runners, injured runners, first-timers, charity runners, adaptive athletes, and marathoners managing heat, fatigue, or medical realities?” the podcast stated in a Facebook post. “Tolerate?”
“The APOLOGY needs to be louder than the disrespect,” it added, “And that disrespect was BOOMING!”
Nike’s corporate communications said in a statement that the company wants “more people to feel welcome in running — no matter their pace, experience or the distance.”
“During race week in Boston, we put up a series of signs to encourage runners,” the statement read. “One of them missed the mark. We took it down, and we’ll use this moment to do better and continue showing up for all runners.”
Some runners who admitted that they take walk breaks during marathons said that people who took offense need to lighten up.
Michael Brandt, the CEO of Ketone, a high-performance energy company, stated on X, “For those new to running — The Boston Marathon is a race.”
“A race is an event where you run as fast as you can,” Brandt wrote, “and the people who finish first are generally considered to be better at the sport than those who finish later.
“This is why Nike made a sign saying ‘Runners welcome. Walkers tolerated,’ he added, “and most people got a little chuckle from it and moved on.”