"For many years, there has been a regular bike count at the Ford Ironman World Championships, which brands use to track their progress in sales/market share terms, for both marketing purposes, and as a measure of their acceptance - or not - with the athletic population at which they are aimed.
This year there was an additional count - shoes - carried out by Newton Japan (www.newtonrunning.com), and the results have been provided as an exclusive to Tri247. The guys and girls from Newton counted the first 1000 shoes across the line in Kona, and the results were:
Asics 25.2%
Saucony 11.4%
Newton 11.1%
Brooks 10.1%
Zoot 6.8%
Mizuno 6.6%
Adidas 5.2%
K-Swiss 4.3% (virtually all were pro athletes…)
New Balance 4%
Avia 1.7% "
That is interesting as they do make good run shoes.
wore them for the first 2-3 years when I did alot of running back in 1988-1991. Changed to Ascics in 1992 because the Nike’s were too bulky and the sole air pockets would break and have never bought another pair of them. Do buy and use the odd pair of brooks when I can get them but didn’t find their stand here in Kona.
Am still running 3 times a week and heading out in Kona now for a training session.
I think once a brand dissapoints a customer it is hard to get them back again, especially if they market/price themselves as the premium brand.
With such a low percentage of k-swiss represented (especially by non-pros), it makes you wonder where the cutoff is between performance and marketing. Ultimately, a pro will run in a shoe that works for them, but if they are flexible with their preference a solid sponsorship could tip the balance. I ran in the new racing flats at IMLP, and I thought they were a phenomenal shoe for 13.1 or lower. I was expecting a greater presence of their midweight models among the AGers. I’m not one to speak … I’m an Asics runner.
Has to be an oversight there–I’m sure Nike is supposed to be in that list. I remember reading that they were among the top three or four most common in past years. Plus, if you add up the percentages, there’s about 15% missing. I bet they’re somewhere above Zoot…
I run a risk here since I work for Zoot. It does seem impossible that there wasn’t a Nike shoe in the first 1000. I’m guessing you could count a percentage for Nike Lunar alone. 12 years of Road Runner Sports knowledge tells me this. 13.6% left as other is too much. Especially when that accounts for more than most of the brands listed. Throw Scott, Pearl Izumi, Diadora, and Karhu and we won’t make up 13%.
I’m not sure who did this shoe count. I do know there was a group of 3 people from different brands conducting a shoe count. I don’t think this is that count.
That seems like a better count. Not because it was sponsored by Zoot but because it seams a bit closer to the Market. Asics is happy because they grew to 29% in this count but that’s reality right now. Nike is happy too because they got counted here.
I will say again this count was done by three people from three brands, Zoot being one of them.
if by virtually all were pro athletes (kswiss) you meant 13 out of 70 then you would be accurate. kswiss had 13 pros in the race and the remaining 53 were age groupers. also, Kswiss has only been in kona for 2 years and most of 70 have purchased those shoes recently (many were purchased and raced in this week) and were confident enough to race in them. kswiss has just been available at retail for less than a year so 70 is pretty good. congratulations to all the brands that had a presence in the toughest single day event in the world. these are the best and most discerning athletes in the world and kswiss is very proud of being chosen by these athletes. im sure that the other brands would say the same. congratulations to all the athletes who competed, the race was amazing!
With such a low percentage of k-swiss represented (especially by non-pros), it makes you wonder where the cutoff is between performance and marketing. Ultimately, a pro will run in a shoe that works for them, but if they are flexible with their preference a solid sponsorship could tip the balance. I ran in the new racing flats at IMLP, and I thought they were a phenomenal shoe for 13.1 or lower. I was expecting a greater presence of their midweight models among the AGers. I’m not one to speak … I’m an Asics runner.
Not sure what model you’re actually referring to but I will definitely be wearing a pair of K-Onas at IMAZ. I’ve been researching shoes for the last year and I’m convinced the K-Onas are the best I’ve found so far.
i left the st racer in the suitcase after i was reminded? that i should look for a shoe with drainage…bought kona s 3 days before race,worked perfect…always try something new on race day
I ran in Brooks. KSwiss had by far the largest presence at the race (being a title sponsor), Asics and Saucony were all over the shops on Ali’i Brooks and Nike had little to no presence for corporate branding going on. However I did feel like most people walking around prior to the race wore Zoot, Newton or Nike Free/Lunar. Brooks grabbed a great win from Chrissie.