A quick note . . . as this writer is back in Cambridge, WI, enjoying a cup of coffee, watching the ING New York City Marathon on the web and compiling notes on the previous week, may I suggest that you link to www.runningnetwork.com to catch up on all of the news of the week!

The Importance of the Five Majors
This is the first fall of the Five Major Marathons: Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and NYC. Having visited all five this year, I do see this as an important development in our sport. Speaking in broad generalities, here is what this writer sees:

a. BAA Boston---the historic race, the temple of marathon running. Most of the nearly 750,000 marathon finishers worldwide in 2006 have thought or dreamt of running this marathon. Kudos to adidas on the outdoor promotion and apparel for Boston, which can be seen all over the world. And the challenges for Boston in the future? How sponsors, like adidas, can help Boston develop its iconic status not just for Boston's future growth, but also for the sport in particular. Adidas has not over commercialized its sponsorship here, however, there is an intriguing opportunity here to promote both brands and the sport in a globally positive way. The BAA Boston Marathon is the perfect place to start the Five Majors. Best media center for race day coverage, period. Kudos to Guy Morse, Jack Fleming and their team.

b. FLORA London---my first visit to London was this past year and what an event. From the signage on the course, to the media coverage in print and on television. Dave Bedford and his team at FLORA London do own the nation for one day. This marathon is the best funded and best managed event, in my opinion, on the tour. adidas is a footwear sponsor here along with FLORA, which gets its money's worth in the four hours of live coverage alone nationwide! Where does London go from here? Bedford and his team have looked into the future and have managed the security issues, can afford top fields, (in fact, if someone is not at London, more than likely, Mr. Bedford did not want or need them there). Bedford has also learned that a race is a competition, and that as soon as possible, get the pace makers out of the way and let the marathoners put one foot in front of another. FLORA London's growth parallel's the growth of running outside of the U.S. Kudos to media updates and planning from Nicola and her team--from story ideas to great room for race day coverage.

c. real, -Berlin---Berlin is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world---arts, music, media, and a convergence of modern Europe. Berlin has only been a complete city again for less than 17 years and the cost of modernization is taxing the city. Companies like real,- (comparable to Kmart in the U.S.) have made large contributions to this marathon. The uniqueness of the event, 10,000 inline skaters one night and 34,000 marathoners the next, on a very fast course is what attracts runners to Berlin. The youngest of the marathons in this group (also sponsored by adidas) real,-Berlin will gain much from its allegiance with the Five Majors as Mark Milde and his team, which makes this event most hospitable marathon on this circuit, will continue to grow their event.

d. The LaSalle Bank Chicago---it was only a decade ago that this writer saw Carey Pinkowski checking the course at about 2 a.m. making sure all was done. It is this attention to detail and the support of the archetypal big city Mayor Daley and the financial and logistical support of the LaSalle Bank, part of the ABN AMRO, that has made this race so popular. In the early 80s, when Steve Jones and Carlos Lopez ran so well here, the average marathoner was an afterthought. Not so now. With 34,000 plus average marathoners, 33 percent of them first timers, were here in 2006. The LaSalle Bank and New Balance are great sponsors here and the expo is the best in the world . . .period. Lots of room, huge sales volumes for all of the brands, this event is all about the competition. This writer's personal opinion is that The LaSalle Bank Chicago is seeing that while records are good, tight finishes and real competitive battles are better--it is all about the competition-both up front and inside each and every runner. Great improvements on the media room with Marianne Caponi at the helm.

e. ING New York City Marathon---Fred Lebow would be proud. In 1972 or 73, the late Fred Lebow was pitching a company on his dream of a larger NY City marathon. "So this guy from Transylvania or something comes up to me and asks for $5,000 to sponsor a marathon!" the older gentleman, a former COO of a major pr agency told me a few years ago. The gentleman, who did some work for Rodale years later, did say that Fred Lebow was a visionary, but at that time, in the early seventies, he doubted the sanity of anyone who suggested a citywide marathon.

This writer recalls sitting with Fred in 1987, probably at the USATF Convention. Fred was asking this writer what I really, truly wanted to do with my life. I told him about wanting to be a professor of history or go back to coaching. He got a little miffed and told me that I would not be doing all those things and that I needed to find something that I liked doing and stick with it. I also remember the smile on Allan Steinfeld's face when Fred would come up with one of his plans, which of course, Allan would have to implement. But what a team they made!

It has been nice seeing Allan Steinfeld, a man who has put most of his adult life into this marathon, relax as Mary Wittenberg takes the New York Road Runners to the next place that the event needs to go. After some years of identity crisis, the ING New York City Marathon is the race that Fred Lebow dreamed of and more . . .

"You have to hand it to Mary. She has made New York City the place one has to be . . . " commented one of the footwear bigwigs. And that is true. From the week of press events, to the week of parties and meetings, ING New York City Marathon is the fall litmus test on the strength of the industry.

The ING New York City Marathon is an international marathon. Half of the field is from France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Bulgaria, Russia, England, everywhere! ASICS as apparel sponsor gets the award for the best apparel line and set up at a major marathon---I spent a few minutes with Sven, an 18-time marathoner from Gothenburg, Sweden, holding a couple of pairs of ASICS, and several other items told me that shoes in U.S. were half price of Europe and clothes were excellent. Multiply that by 42,000 and you get my drift.

As New York City is the media capital of the world, it is also the guerrilla marketing capital of the world. Most of the major brands did something at this event to tie into the importance of the race. Reebok launched their Premier Paris Pump Trainer, and Nike had Lance.

You did not hear about Lance Armstrong? There was a long piece in Runner's World (November issue) and the rumors of who would run with him, from Hicham El Guerrouj and Joan Samuelson to many other luminaries. What gives? There were Lance posters all around the city, on walls, on walkways, and all over the web.

Marketing---here is how Reebok did it: Bobby Flay, one of the most prominent chefs on the Food Network, decided to run New York this year. Reebok wanted an event to promote the Premier Pump Paris Trainer and they allied themselves with Bobby Flay to do a media event around NY. The event was held at the Bar Americain, one of Mr. Flays three establishments in New York.

Mr. Flay, who had just prepared a tasty pasta dish on CBS This Morning, was in good spirits and spoke about his last foray over the marathon in New York in 2002 in 4 hours, 10 minutes. "For a New Yorker, the ING New York City Marathon is the place to run . . . . " A relaxed speaker, Flay had the media enthralled, not only with his French toast, but also his relaxed attitude on running. His goal is to run faster this year than 2002, and he was hoping for cooler weather.

Reebok introduced the Premier Pump Paris Trainer, to be sold at selected stores in Manhattan for the weekend and at the Expo. There was also a chance for two consumers to win a trip to Paris for the spring Paris Marathon.

Reebok product manager, Steve Ave, told RN that the Premier Pump Trainer was a way to add the performance nature of pump technology to their top performance product, and that the ability to fine tune the fit of the heel adds to the validity of pump technology in performance footwear. The product launch, against such a backdrop as the ING New York City Marathon, gave Reebok an even bigger push than if they had done it alone.

The state of the sport
Here is what gives---running is leading the charge in the fourth fitness revolution. With over a half a million marathon finishers in the U.S. last year and the same or more half marathoners, running is going nowhere but up.

The competition among the big brands is huge---there are 10-12 brands now making excellent shoes and there are several large brands that are getting hammered by the upstarts.

The running footwear business is a $7 billion retail business in the U.S.! While Nike has $2.5 billion of it, most of that is under $65. At the top billion of the business, and especially in the $910 million in local running store business, the players are ASICS, Brooks, Saucony, New Balance, Mizuno, Nike, adidas, Reebok, Avia with PUMA, Etonic, Kahru, Diadora. That average shoe price in the top $910 million---$90 a pair!

ASICS and Brooks are nearly 44 percent of the specialty business. The two brands that grew in 2006 have been Saucony and New Balance, with Mizuno losing some of its luster.

The big brands, adidas, Nike and Reebok, who have the infrastructure to push any of the leading specialty brands around, are all having their own challenges. adidas brought in Adrian Leek to be the global head of running, Nike has instituted a global GM of running, now headed by Leslie Lane, and Reebok, which was purchased by adidas recently, has finally developed some consistent running product. Reebok used the ING New York City Marathon weekend to introduce the Paris Pump Trainer, designed by Steve Ave and his team.

NIke, Reebok and adidas, with teams all prone to self examination, are in the midst of asking the big questions---can they regain their former luster in performance running, at what price do they not try and regain that luster and do they really have the need to do such a thing as relearn their culture?

The running business is getting into middle age. Many of the founders of these brands have retired to enjoy their wealth or just to get off the road every weekend. The second generation of managers--many without the running pedigree--have to decide what part of the culture to keep and what part to change. Nike, adidas and Reebok all have the financial and infrastructure to regain part of their lost luster, but at what costs?

Women make 60 percent of the shoe purchases and 70 percent of the apparel. Running is not going away, but it is changing. Many stores carry apparel and equipment for Pilates and yoga as well as brands such as TEVA, Salomon, Avia, PUMA coming into the food chain.

The Latino community is growing in this country and their interest in running is also growing. Latinos Corriendo, part of the Shooting Star Media group and a member of the Running Network, moved to six issues in 07, after five issues in 06.

Youth running is growing at high school and junior high. This part of the business could be a huge boon to local running stores. The problem here is that the stores have to go outside their stores and meet with the local coach and administrators. But with team sizes at 51 in track and 38 in cross country, and five pairs of shoe purchases per average high school athlete, this is a gold mine.

Trail running is strong, and so is the high school side of the sport. Many running stores have no relationship with their local schools, hence the teams purchase via web and mail order.

The Running Event, put on by the Footwear Intelligence staff and the Top 50 Running Stores awards dinner, sponsored by the Running Network and Footwear Intelligence, are sold out. The meetings in Austin, TX, from November 12-15, will be a time where the industry gets together to work on its future.

This past Thursday night, the Running Network hosted a reception Rosie O'Grady's in New York and the 100 industry folks that turned out had an enjoyable time. With staffs from ASICS, adidas, Reebok, Nike, Karhu and many of the race staffs, the event was a nice way to start the weekend of running events. The Running Network will hold industry gatherings in Boston and Chicago this coming year.

On Friday morning, this writer did a short video for the staff of New Balance on the state of the sport. In a sport that went mainstream about 35 years ago, all indications are for growth and more people donning their footwear to get active in the future. The Five Majors, along with the twelve thousand other events in North America this year suggest a sport in need of leadership but with tremendous growth opportunities.

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atf newswire is published by shooting star media, inc. for the good of the sport. http://www.american-trackandfield.com Shooting Star Media, Inc. is proudly represented by the Running Network, LLC. http://www.runningnetwork.com Copyright 2006, all rights reserved..