The former British steeplechase record holder and international sports broadcaster joins Alanic as Business Growth Manager, and brings one question to the Running USA Industry Conference: what makes runners reach for your shirt months after race day?
Long after the course reopens and the finish-line gantry comes down, a race can still show up on someone’s Tuesday run. It’s the shirt they pull from the drawer before heading out. It might remind them of a first marathon, a personal best, or the friend who stayed with them through the final mile. It also has to be a shirt they actually want to run in.
Jo Ankier has spent her career on both sides of the finish line, first as an international athlete, then as the voice calling the race. This month she joins Alanic, the marathon and endurance apparel arm of Dioz Group, as Business Growth Manager. In January she’ll take that runner’s and broadcaster’s view to the Running USA Industry Conference presented by haku in Las Vegas.
From the steeplechase to the broadcast booth
Ankier won the London Mini Marathon twice as a junior, then swapped the roads for the barriers and water jumps of the steeplechase, racing for Great Britain and Adidas. She held British records at 1,500, 2,000 and 3,000 meters, ran for Great Britain at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, and competed for England at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. She qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and during those years she lived and trained alongside Mo Farah, who went on to win four Olympic golds.
Broadcasting gave her a second view of the sports she knew as an athlete. She spent seven years as an ESPN presenter and covered four Olympic Games across ESPN, Olympic Channel and talkSPORT, including track and field at Rio 2016 and Paris 2024. She has called the Miami Marathon, reported for Super League Triathlon, and covered the Premier League, MLB’s London Series, and football and boxing for CBS and BT Sport. She interviewed Tyson Fury live in the ring at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and reported ringside in Riyadh for Tommy Fury vs. Jake Paul. (ESPN bio · broadcast credits)
What runners take home
Ankier brings both perspectives to Alanic. As a runner, she knows how quickly a seam, a cut or a fabric decides whether a shirt goes back into the training rotation or to the back of the drawer. As a broadcaster, she has seen how the streets a course runs through, the music along the route and the crowds in the final mile give every race its own character. A good race shirt carries some of that character home.
In her new role, she’ll work with race directors on the full race-day kit, including participant shirts, finisher gear, jackets and medals, with one test in mind: will runners still be wearing it a year later?
Dioz Group is a global apparel and merchandise manufacturer with customers in more than 55 countries. Through Alanic, it has supplied events including the San Francisco Marathon, Manchester Marathon, Seattle Marathon and Beirut Marathon. (Running USA on Alanic)
Meet Jo in Las Vegas
If you’re heading to the Running USA Industry Conference, bring a race shirt you still wear, or a photo of it. Jo would love to hear why you kept it, and to talk about what your own runners might reach for after race day.
To set up a conversation, email Alanic at usa@dioz.com and ask for Jo Ankier.