Tyler McCandless

Tyler is a top American distance runner, PhD student, and coach. Tyler lives and trains in beautiful Boulder, Colorado under the tutelage of coach Steve Jones.

In the spring of 2010, Tyler graduated with both BS and MS degrees in Meteorology from Penn State. In September of 2012, he re-enrolled at Penn State with a position at the National Center for Atmospheric Research to earn his PhD through collaborative research between NCAR and PSU. His current goal is to earn my PhD before the 2016 Olympic Marathon trials and be a contender for the Olympic team.

While he was at Penn State, he earned All-American Honors in the 10,000m run with a 12th place finish (5th American) at the NCAA D1 Championships in 2010. Since graduating college, he moved up the road races and specifically have trained and competed in marathons. Tyler’s won three marathons: two times the winner of the Kauai Marathon in Hawaii and also the champion of the Iwaki City Marathon in Japan. Tyler’s personal best marathon time of 2:17:09 was run at Grandma’s Marathon in Minnesota in 2011.  As one of the youngest qualifiers at the Olympic Marathon Trials in 2012, Tyler ran a 2:19 marathon to place 50th. In July of 2011 Tyler was awarded the Road Runners Club of America Roads Scholarship, which is an award to assist American post-collegiate runners who show great promise to develop into national and world-class distance running athletes.

In addition to competing at major road races, marathons, and US Championships, he’s the assistant Track and Cross Country Coach at Centaurus High School in Lafayette, Colorado. In the fall of 2011, the Centaurus boys cross country team won their first state championship in school history while the girls tied their highest finish with a 4th place finish.

“I’ve always believed in the quote from my favorite book, The Power of One, where the main character says “First with the head, then with the heart, that’s how you stay ahead from the start.”  This motto is embodied in my training and racing, as well as my daily life.  The Newton shoes were created and developed on this same philosophy, building off Newton’s 2nd Law of Physics to produce high quality training and racing shoes with a passion for success.”