Chris was an athlete through high school and college. He was a track and field runner and landed a fellowship and later a job at Sports Illustrated. Chris speaks to the experience he gained working at a media company. After some time at Sports Illustrated, he realized there was little coverage of what he was most passionate about, running and track and field. This is where his interest was and he wanted to start a media company that focused on this niche of the sports industry.
Dino met Chris through their mutual community of running at the Chicago marathon. Chris shares insight on how having both the running background and his time as a sports journalist has allowed him to improve his storytelling and better connect with the athletes he is featuring. He talks about the difference in working for a large media company versus trying to build up his own publication for the niche topic of running.
Chris shares his experience covering major marathons and the Olympics. He discusses the lack of public interest in track and field media after the buzz of the Olympics dies down. He talks about the challenge of trying to keep that audience engaged with the running content post-Olympics and points out how mainstream media companies do not continue coverage of these incredible record-breaking athletes. Chris reveals that the mission of his magazine is to keep these athletes in the spotlight year-round like any other sports competitors.
Dino asks Chris about Citius’s future and how he will scoop out the next stars in the world of track and field competition. He explains how he covers championships and stays up to date with athletes in high school and college who go on to compete professionally. Chris explains his goal is to target high school and college students who compete or have competed at their respective levels and who have more interest in keeping up with their counterparts who are breaking records or making it to higher-stakes competitions. He explains there is a level of relatability in this demographic and therefore are more engaged with the content he is putting out. Chris believes in targeting an everyday runner such as a marathon runner, as they are doing it for a personal goal and not necessarily competitively.
Tune into this week’s episode of the Project Purple Podcast to learn more about Chris and his effort to expand his media company and about the world of track and field.
Visit his magazine’s website for more about his media company and to stay up to date with all things running: citiusmag.com
Follow Citius Magazine on social media: @CitiusMag
