Boston Marathon Recap and Roundup #33
Post Boston Marathon come down, London Marathon event schedule, and recent happenings in the space
Quick Hits
Sharon Lokedi (Under Armour) ripped one and shattered the Boston Marathon record. Korir (Asics) made a decisive move at 22 to win the men’s side.
Puma paid out $3,000 to sub elites in Project3 program who ran a PR of 3min or better.
June 26th, Faith Kipyegon (Nike) will make a run at the sub 4 mile in Paris. Her current best is 4:07. Faith v Sub 4!
Unpacked Food and I put together a London Marathon event list similar to the one for Boston.
Bandit’s hungry for the UK market. Their London capsule looks super cool. It’ll be at the Run.Limited Expo
Winners at the Boston Marathon
Vintage Rocks!
My Boston Marathon vintage capsule with Swiftwick sold out in record time—thank you everyone for your support! If you’re lucky, you might have won a free t-shirt from the Citius Mag x Swiftwick Prediction Contest. If you weren’t able to get something…stay tuned.
More Events Than Ever, But Not Like NYC
I listed well over 100 popups, shakeouts, and events on the Running Supply Boston Marathon Event List. This is up double from last year’s Boston and follows the uptick at Paris, NYC, and London. NYC this past year had ~110 events.
Local's Guide: Everything worth doing in Boston during the Marathon
There are dozens of events to go to during the Boston Marathon, local landmarks to see, and places vying for your attention.
The main difference I noticed with Boston is that there were far fewer cultural events than in NYC. Fewer store popups and challenger brands, no zine launches, no wine bars beyond
’s women-owned brand popup with Pruzan and Running Wylder at Neighborhood Wines. Boston boasted mostly elite runner panels fielding questions, shakeout runs, race strategy events, and nutrition FAQs. Most of the events were centered around performing well at the race rather than a marketing event conveniently around the race.This reflects the ethos of the city and the Marathon itself. The local running scene is heavily influenced by the competitive collegiate scene, which in turn creates a competitive post-collegiate scene. ultra competitive There are lots of open track meets and plenty of collegiate runners transition into post-collegiate clubs, often still working with their college coach. Maybe not the most ideal city to train in compared to Boulder or Flagstaff, but it’s easy to stay sharp and racing track out of college if you’re here. The rich history of fast running remains a core part of Boston.
Shoe Tech Is Catching Up
Under Armour and Asics topped the podium at the Boston Marathon. Shoe tech has been caught up for a while, but now we’re seeing brands that traditionally tailed behind (Puma, UA) catch up to the big dogs. Notably Korir wore a prototype of the Asics Tokyo.
I have yet to try the Under Armour shoes, and they honestly don’t look that fast compared to some of the other stuff on the market. Clearly they figured something out but Sharon Lokedi is also just a beast.
On and Puma Dropped a Bag $$$
On and Puma made seemingly largest investments in both their spaces and programming throwing multiple parties. On gave away a full trip to Tokyo, while Puma headlined their new racing shoe and a slew of Puma sub-elite athletes who garnered $3,000 each if they PR’d by 3 min or more.
On rented one of the larger store spaces at the top of Newbury Street and hosted both a kickoff party with Mental Athletic AND an unofficial Paul Revere Classic after party. Not to mention they had their portable LightSpray machine making shoes the entire time.
Best Brand Event: New Balance Marathon Relay
The New Balance Indoor Track is an incredible facility and is set up for holding competitive events. There were maybe 20 teams there of 5+ runners, and folks swapping in and out as needed. While not super competitive, the music was bumping, they had free food and drinks, and the atmosphere was upbeat without being overwhelming. Inside the track they had a ton of space for spectators and booths for hydration, libation, and post run fuel.
Despite the track being relatively far from the bustle of events on Newbury Street, there was a great showing from the local club runners and some of the out of town crews that signed up. Compared to the chaos in many of the Newbury popups on Friday and Saturday, this was a needed reprieve.
Best Non-Brand Event: Paul Revere Classic
While there was brand help from friends of the folks that organized it, the PRC was generally a low key, locals event where teams got to race for blood against each other on the course. This year there were a handful of teams from local clubs, brand teams in town for the race, and even som solo runners. I appreciate how it’s stayed small and this was the first year I was involved at all (and I’m happy that’s the case). Keep it local!
Best Shoe Promotion: Cloudboom Strike LS
On did just about everything for this LightSpray release. They have been doing a press tour all year at each of the major marathons. They did a run-off before their opening night party in Boston giving away a fully paid trip to Tokyo. The entire main store was a shrine to LightSpray, with the mini fabrication lab as the centerpiece. It’s practically performance art.
Honorably mention goes to the Puma Fast-R3, only because of the Project3 results. It seems like runners genuinely loved the shoe and it felt good. I’ve long been a Puma skeptic as they tend to be inconsistent in their running support over the years. Great review on these from friend of the sub Cris, aka Beers and Miles.
Recent Releases and Industry News
Saucony Silo finally released April 17 after weeks of teasers. This had less of a splash than I would have expected, it was a very quiet campaign that felt very if-you-know-you-know. They created a new IG account which still only has a bout ~2000 followers. The shoes themselves look pretty sharp and are lifestyle colorways and finishes, but otherwise fully functional performance shoes. I’m not a huge fan of the pull-tie style cinch, but the all black is so sleek I might make an exception.
District Vision and New Balance partnered on another trail shoe, the NB Minimus 10O. The MT10 was one of my favorite trainers in high school during my minimalist phase and they look pretty cool on foot. I much prefer the subtle earth tones to the purple that New Balance makes now. This version is more tuned for lifestyle but like many of these lifestyle performance hybrids, the shoe has all the vestiges of the original model so can work perfectly well on trail. You can buy the shoe already at District Vision, but it releases on New Balance 4/30.
Bandit has a full London capsule featuring a special ciré print technique and English-inspired embroidery detailing. This collection really one-upped Boston in my opinion: better branding and graphics. The Diptyque esque typeface they used feels super crisp–definitely nailed the football aesthetic. I wouldn’t be surprised if the budget for this race was higher as they try and break into the European and UK market. The capsule is at a special expo organized by Run.Limited.
Peak Performance, who first hit my radar with their Helium jacket line, released a trail running collection. The Swedish brand makes high quality outdoor apparel, similar to The North Face or Arcteryx. My favorite part of the line is the Polartec Alpha lined jacket and vest – something that now takes up a large part of my winter and deep fall apparel. I prefer the women’s colorway to the men’s navy and teal.
Ciele put out a “Life Editions” collection, which is functionally elevated athleisure, and the prices reflect that. Not to downplay the line—I could certainly see someone running in the CCJacket made of vented COOLMATIC DWR fabric. The soft green, and off-white seem to be popular colors this season across the running industry (my favorite pair of Courier socks are kelly green). The denim version is made of a hemp blend, so a fair bit heavier than the other. Contrast these real denim shorts with SATISFY’s printed running jorts.
Tracksmith is expanding to more wholesale and now available at an increasing number of retailers including Running Warehouse. They took on a bunch of investment over the last decade so need to grow, and wholesale is usually a good bet. Between that and bringing in some new energy with Steph Bruce, Matt Centrowitz, and Sam Parsons they should be in good shape this year. I’m excited to see what Parsons does in his creative role given the work he had been doing with adidas and Tinman Elite.
Craft just put out their Nordlite Tempo shoe, which is an uptempo lightweight trainer. Haven’t tried much of Craft’s running shoes but stand by their apparel, especially the XC skiing baselayers.
The Nike Mayfly is reborn on the Pegasus 41, Vomero 18, new Pegasus Premium, as well as a Vomero Premium. The colorway is set to roll out July 20th, per Sole Retriever. The release will come just a few weeks before Faith Kipyegon’s signature colorways in August.
