Friday, December 09, 2005

Win the Boston Marathon in Spira Shoes, get $1 Million

Spira Footwear, a company in Texas, is offering $1 million to the person that can win the upcoming Boston Marathon in their shoes. Why? Well, first, because they are a small company and this is a great marketing gimmick to garner eyeballs to their website, technology, and product offering. But, another reason is to persuade the sanctioning Track & Field Governing Body to relinquish an "antiquated" rule stating that springs in shoes are not allowed in competition. Spira Footwear was launched by two brothers about 5 years ago. Their technology consists of literally a metal spring in the heel and forefoot. No, these aren't those funky Z-Coils you may have seen. These springs are a lot lower profile. It's pretty cool technology. And, in independent tests, their shoes have produced impressive results. The results were so good that they claim that, at times, the springs may return over 90% of energy.

Compared to a few years ago, their product design has come a long way. Their original design was for a walking shoe, and it was horrendously ugly. Granted, most walking shoes are very geezer like. I hope this company does well, as I'm in the process, myself, of developing a footwear technology. And, on that note, look for an upcoming blog that will track my progress through the patent, sourcing, production, and marketing of the technology.

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