Olympian's expanding coffee company helps fellow athletes reach their goals
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In 2020, Olympic speedskater Hayden Mayeur opened a mobile coffee company called Hayloft to support his athletic career — and now he's providing flexible work to other athletes with the same goal.
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'We've fully rebranded and shifted the business into creating this new atmosphere for athletes to be able to make that extra cash that they need to be able to focus on their Olympic dreams,' Mayeur said.
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Mayeur started the company out of a 1978 Citroen 2CV truckette, which he converted into an espresso bar in his garage. Since then, he's been catering to corporate and private events across the city. Hayloft has grown to include two carts, and now a barn on wheels that he'll use for festivals and larger events.
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The expansion means he'll need to grow his team. Mayeur has brought other athletes on board with the goal of giving them the same flexible work opportunities that he's created for himself.
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'In amateur sport nowadays, unfortunately, the funding just isn't where it needs to be,' Mayeur said. Athletes get some support from government, but with expensive equipment and fees on top of their day-to-day bills, most rely on sponsorships and part-time jobs to make ends meet.
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'Nobody across the entire country in amateur sport is here for money,' he said. 'It's all because we want to represent this country. But at the end of the day, we also have to be able to stay off the streets.'
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The athletes will be allowed to work around their training and competition schedules, picking up shifts when they're able. Mayeur also offers them higher wages to alleviate some financial stress.
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Mayeur said he was inspired by the impact Hayloft had on his own career, and wanted to do the same for other athletes. He had previously worked part-time as an ice technician at the Olympic Oval, but struggled to balance it with his training and competition schedules.
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'The same year I was able to leave my part-time job, I won a world championship,' Mayeur said. 'I would say a good chunk of that comes down to what the business has been able to do for my work hours, and I want that to be accessible to more and more athletes.'
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Calgary Herald
4 hours ago
- Calgary Herald
Olympian's expanding coffee company helps fellow athletes reach their goals
Article content In 2020, Olympic speedskater Hayden Mayeur opened a mobile coffee company called Hayloft to support his athletic career — and now he's providing flexible work to other athletes with the same goal. Article content 'We've fully rebranded and shifted the business into creating this new atmosphere for athletes to be able to make that extra cash that they need to be able to focus on their Olympic dreams,' Mayeur said. Article content Article content Mayeur started the company out of a 1978 Citroen 2CV truckette, which he converted into an espresso bar in his garage. Since then, he's been catering to corporate and private events across the city. Hayloft has grown to include two carts, and now a barn on wheels that he'll use for festivals and larger events. Article content Article content The expansion means he'll need to grow his team. Mayeur has brought other athletes on board with the goal of giving them the same flexible work opportunities that he's created for himself. Article content 'In amateur sport nowadays, unfortunately, the funding just isn't where it needs to be,' Mayeur said. Athletes get some support from government, but with expensive equipment and fees on top of their day-to-day bills, most rely on sponsorships and part-time jobs to make ends meet. Article content 'Nobody across the entire country in amateur sport is here for money,' he said. 'It's all because we want to represent this country. But at the end of the day, we also have to be able to stay off the streets.' Article content Article content Article content The athletes will be allowed to work around their training and competition schedules, picking up shifts when they're able. Mayeur also offers them higher wages to alleviate some financial stress. Article content Mayeur said he was inspired by the impact Hayloft had on his own career, and wanted to do the same for other athletes. He had previously worked part-time as an ice technician at the Olympic Oval, but struggled to balance it with his training and competition schedules. Article content 'The same year I was able to leave my part-time job, I won a world championship,' Mayeur said. 'I would say a good chunk of that comes down to what the business has been able to do for my work hours, and I want that to be accessible to more and more athletes.'
Winnipeg Free Press
7 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Breaking barriers: A timeline of men's and women's mile records
PARIS (AP) — Despite not being on the Olympic program, where races follow metric measurements, the mile holds certain prestige in the world of middle-distance running. Faith Kipyegon fell short of further cementing her place in mile-running history when she failed to become the first woman to run the distance in under 4 minutes in a Nike-sponsored event in Paris on Thursday. Here's a look at some of the key moments in the record progression in men's and women's mile runs: May 6, 1954: Medical student Roger Bannister becomes the first man to run a sub-4-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, finishing in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. May 29, 1954: Diane Leather becomes the first woman to run the mile in under 5 minutes, finishing in 4:59.6 during the Midland Counties Championships in Birmingham, England. June 3, 1967: Anne Smith of Britain sets two world records in one race: 4:17.3 for the 1,500 meters and 4:37.0 for the mile (1,609 meters). June 23, 1967: U.S. athlete Jim Ryun runs the mile in 3:51.1 His world record will hold for nearly eight years. Aug. 12, 1975: John Walker of New Zealand runs the mile in 3:49.4 at a race in Göteborg, Sweden, becoming the first athlete to finish the distance in under 3:50. July 27, 1985: Steve Cram sets a new world record at 3:46.32. It was the last of three mile records at Bislett Stadium in Oslo by Cram and fellow Britons Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett during a span of six years. Aug. 14, 1996: Svetlana Masterkova of Russia sets a new women's record of 4:12.56. She will hold it for nearly 23 years. July 7, 1999: Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco smashes the world record in the mile at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome with a time of 3:43.13. The record still stands. July 21, 2023: Faith Kipyegon breaks the women's mile record at a Diamond League event in Monaco, clocking 4:07.64 in the Herculis Meeting at Stade Louis II to shatter the 4:12.33 set by long-time rival Sifan Hassan, on the same track in 2019. June 26, 2025: Kipyegon fails in her bid to become the first woman to run a mile in under four minutes. She clocks 4 minutes, 06.42 seconds, surpassing her world record of 4:07.64. However, the time won't be officially recognized as the event was unofficial. ___ AP sports:
Winnipeg Free Press
9 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Funding of Olympic sports a bargaining chip as NCAA seeks antitrust help, AP sources say
College sports leaders seeking antitrust and other protections from Congress have a potential bargaining chip: School assurances that they will provide funding for their increasingly imperiled Olympic programs, by far the biggest pipeline of talent for Team USA. Four people familiar with the talks told The Associated Press that lawmakers, mostly from the Democratic side that will need to provide votes to help any legislation pass the Senate, have been approached by college sports experts and policy shapers to explore options in exchange for support of a bill that some Democrats oppose. One of the clearest tradeoffs would be for an idea that enjoys bipartisan support: helping collegiate Olympic sports programs. Those programs produce around three-quarters of U.S. Olympians at a typical Summer Games, but some are on uncertain footing in the wake of the $2.8 billion House settlement that clears the way for schools to begin sharing revenue directly with their athletes as early as next week. Most of that money will go to football and basketball — the moneymakers — in this new era of name, image and likeness payments to players. The people who spoke to AP did so on condition of anonymity because of the still-evolving and uncertain nature of the talks. But it's no secret that the NCAA and its biggest conferences are not convinced that the House settlement will end all their problems. In the halls of Congress The NCAA is lobbying for a bill that would supersede state laws that set different rules for NIL; ensure athletes do not get employment status; and provide limited antitrust protection. One key issue is the handful of lawsuits challenging the NCAA's longstanding rule of giving athletes five years to complete four seasons of eligibility. 'I get why limited liability is a big ask,' NCAA President Charlie Baker said. 'But when it comes to limited liability around basic rulemaking, the consequences of this for the next generation of young people if you play this thing out are enormous.' In a sign of the difficulty the NCAA might have in getting legislation passed, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who has played a large role in shaping policy for college sports, told AP that athletes 'deserve real reform and independent oversight of college sports.' 'Congressional legislation must provide strong and enforceable protections for their health, safety, and economic rights and transparency to protect non-revenue-generating sports, rather than merely offering a blank check to the NCAA to return to the status quo,' Blumenthal said. While the U.S. government is forbidden by law from funding Olympic teams, there is no such prohibition on government funding for universities and their sports programs. One idea would be for the bill to include promises of certain levels of funding for college Olympic sports programs — some of which could be raised through federal grants to help the schools offset the cost. 'It would depend upon what they have in mind,' Baker said when asked about the idea. 'We'd be open to a conversation about that because those sports are important and they matter.' The issue is complicated and funding sources are going to be under pressure: Over the next year alone, each D-I school is allowed to share up to $20.5 million in revenue with its athletes and there are extra millions being committed to additional scholarships – for instance, in the case of Michigan, $6.2 million. All those figures are increasing under terms of the settlement and the money has to come from somewhere. Olympic sports in peril As of late May, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee had tallied about 40 Olympic sports programs cut in Division I since the beginning of 2024 (but also 18 programs added) as schools prepare for the new financial realities. Only three – the Virginia men's and women's diving programs and the Utah beach volleyball program – came from schools among the Power Four conferences that were co-defendants in the House case. Still, countless other teams have been reconfiguring their lineups with roster caps in place alongside unlimited scholarships, a combination that is forcing hard decisions. Leaders inside the USOPC are optimistic that schools that generate the most talent – for instance, the 39 medals won by Stanford athletes at last year's Paris Games would have placed the school 11th on the overall medal table – will retain robust Olympic sports programs and that Congress is on board with helping. 'We have no reason to believe that there's not real alignment from all the parties, including members of Congress, who have indicated to us a very real concern for Olympic and Paralympic sport,' USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said. Though a strictly partisan bill could pass the narrowly divided House, for it to become law it would need at least seven Democratic votes in the Senate to break a filibuster. In 2023, Blumenthal and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., teamed with Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., to draft a bill that would have provided some antitrust protection in exchange for a number of guarantees, including the establishment of a health and safety trust fund for athletes who deal with long-term injuries from college sports. Among the NCAA's 'core guarantees' put in place last year, schools are now required to cover medical costs for athletic-related injuries for at least two years after players leave school. 'One of the messages was 'clean up your own house first, then come talk to us,'' Baker said of his conversations with lawmakers. 'So we did some of the things that were aligned with some of the previous legislation.' The big question is whether those moves, added to any guarantees for Olympic sports, would be enough to overcome Democratic reluctance to strip or limit legal rights of college athletes. ___ AP college sports:
