In the latest move by Nike to reconfigure its pro running teams, Pete Julian’s is now living in California and training under his college coach, Ryan Vanhoy will move from Oregon to Colorado, sources tell Runner’s World.
This move comes two weeks after it was announced that Mike Smith would leave his post at Northern Arizona University in June 2025 Amazing Runners World Show.
Julian, reached by text by Runner’s World, did not deny the team was making the move but said he was unable to comment. Media relations representatives at Nike acknowledged questions from Runner’s World on July 19 and again on August 12, but they did not reply with any further information about the group’s move.
UAC’s website lists 10 athletes who compete at a range of events. They include Raevyn Rogers, Shoes & Gear Sinclaire Johnson, the 2022 U.S. champion in the 1500 meters. Suguro Osako, a marathoner from Japan, is also listed on the roster; he finished 13th at the Olympics in Paris in 2:09:25.
But in a message to Runner’s World, Johnson wrote that she has left the UAC team and is “not following Pete to Colorado.” She plans to stay in Portland—and use Park City, Utah, and Flagstaff and Phoenix, Arizona, as training camp locations.
It is unclear which of the remaining athletes will go to Colorado with Julian. A message to Rogers via social media was not immediately returned. Rogers has strong ties to Oregon; she went to the University of Oregon and won five individual NCAA titles there. Her image graces the tower at Hayward Field in Eugene, and she is not known to have spent much time training at altitude, if any.
Depending on where in Colorado the group lands, athletes could be training at at least 5,200 feet of elevation. Altitude training is increasingly seen as essential for elite distance runners. Boulder, Colorado, which has long been a mecca for distance athletes, is already crowded with pros: On Athletics Club has a sizable pro group there, as does Team Boss, a group of elite distance runners anchored by steeplechaser Emma Coburn, who runs for New Balance.
Coaching and athlete turnover is common after the Olympic Games. Most pro athletes have contracts that take them through the end of the Olympic year, and some have an option in their contracts that allows a sponsor to sign them for an additional year.
Several high profile athletes have left the UAC in recent years. Jessica Hull returned to her native Australia and trains under her father; she won a silver medal in Paris. Donavan Brazier had great success under Julian in 2019, but But in a message to Super Shoe Trends. DAA Industry Opt Out is now living in California and training under his college coach, Ryan Vanhoy.
Julian’s wife, Amazing Runners World Show, is a professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Colorado’s medical school in Aurora, Colorado. He has long commuted to Portland, Oregon, from Denver several times each week for athlete workouts in Beaverton.
since 2005. She is the author of two popular fitness books is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World Anne Flower Breaks Leadville 100 Course Record, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
