- On Thursday, September 26, Olympian and six-time national outdoor 800-meter champion Alysia Montaño signed a sponsorship deal with New Zealand-based women’s activewear brand Cadenshae.
- Montaño, a mother of two, is a former Nike athlete who spoke out against the company’s lack of maternal protections for pregnant athletes.
- She hasn’t raced since 2017, but said in a press release that she plans to return to competition “when the time is right.”
Alysia Montaño, a six-time national champion in the 800 meters who made headlines when she competed while pregnant in the 2014 and 2017 USATF Outdoor National Championships, announced on September 26 that she signed a new contract with Cadenshae. The activewear company, which is based on New Zealand, is specifically geared toward women who are pregnant or nursing.
For six years, Montaño, who is 33 and a mother of two, was sponsored by Nike, whom she alleged did not provide enough maternal protections for pregnant athletes. Earlier this year, she expressed her struggles with being a mother and a competitive athlete in a New York Times opinion piece and video.
“The sports industry allows for men to have a full career. When a woman decides to have a baby, it pushes women out at their prime,” she wrote in the piece. In the video, she explained that when she told Nike that she was pregnant, the company decided to pause her contract and cut her pay. After receiving backlash from Montaño and other ex-Nike athletes such as Alyson Felix, Nike added more protection for pregnant athletes and new moms in contracts in August.
Montaño left Nike in 2013, then signed briefly with Asics; that contract ended in 2016. The runner was unsponsored while she competed in 2017.
After hearing the plight of Montaño and other athletes fighting for maternity rights, Cadenshae—an activewear company based in New Zealand that creates clothing for athletes who are pregnant or nursing—was inspired to offer Montaño its first athlete sponsorship.
“I’m captivated by her plight and have followed Alysia’s story since the get-go,” said Nikki Clarke, owner and founder of Cadenshae, in a press release provided to Runner’s World. “After our first meeting, I wanted nothing more than to support her on her quest—not only as a female professional athlete, but as a spokeswoman for maternity rights throughout the U.S. and globally.”
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While Montaño has not competed since 2017, Cadenshae plans to support her role as a spokesperson in the athletic community regardless of her running performances.
“If Alysia chooses to run again, we will support her fully, but it is not 100 percent the focus of our partnership,” Clarke said in the release. “We want to be able to help Alysia continue her campaign for change. That’s what matters to us. We’re so excited to see what the future holds.”
“Unlike before, I don’t have a sponsor who is putting extreme pressure on me to perform in a certain time frame,” Montaño said in the release. “I’ll come back when the time is right.”
Before joining Runner's World, Gabrielle Hondorp spent 6 years in running retail (she has tested top gear from shoes, to watches, to rain jackets which has expanded her expertise—and her closets); she specializes in health and wellness, and is an expert on running gear from head-to-toe. Gabi began her journalism career as a Digital Editorial Fellow for Runner’s World and Bicycling Magazine, and has since advanced to a Runner's World Editor specializing in commerce. She has a double degree in English and Media and Communication from Muhlenberg College where she also ran cross country and track.
