The Marathon Handbook
Statement of Independence
As we’ve grown from a tiny website into a bigger team of runners and writers, we wanted to share our position on reviews, brand partnerships, and affiliate income:
- Our opinions and product recommendations will always be our own, independent, and truthful – not swayed by any brands.
- We’ll occasionally partner with brands, but only brands that we feel closely align with our own values and are of specific interest to our audience.
- Any time we do work with a brand, we’ll make it abundantly clear in the article or review – for example, if a brand provides a product to review or pays us to release a news story about their latest product. This won’t change our editorial stance to publish our own opinions.
- The products we choose to review and include in our buyer’s guides will be selected by us based on their quality and relevance to our readers – we don’t prioritize or choose products based on brand partnerships. We recommend what we think is best for our readers.
- Many of our reviews include affiliate links, meaning if you click through and buy a product, we’ll receive a small commission on that sale. However, affiliate income is not a driver when we select products to feature – many products we choose aren’t on affiliate platforms. The only thing we consider when choosing products to feature is whether or not they are a fit for our audience.
- In acting in the best interests of our readers, we may occasionally take a stance – or choose not to promote certain products that other websites are promoting if we believe they’re not relevant or in the best interest of our audience.
- Wherever possible, our expert reviewers will thoroughly test every piece of kit we cover. This is already true for our shoe reviews – every single shoe is run-tested and examined thoroughly by our expert shoe testers before we write about them.
- Our site is primarily funded by our digital products and the ads you see on the page; this model allows us to be independentย when it comes to reviewing products – we don’t rely on affiliate income or brand partnerships to survive.
Thanks,
Thomas Watson
Marathon Handbook founder + editor-in-chief
(Last updated: 12th June 2023)