Kent Wong at Ironman China was not afraid to rock the Newton Pink Racers.

Not everyone believes what they read in magazines or on major media websites…especially when it comes to product reviews. So, here at The Running Front we’re going to republish some Newton shoe reviews that we find around the blogosphere-reviews written by real people without bias from sponsors or advertisers.

Here are two cool first impression reviews.

An excerpt from Robert at Psyrixx Blog:

“I don’t know if it was just my high expectations or if the shoes actually accomplished what they were designed to do but I ran my entire forty minute set without any hint of pain.  It was, as in Oceanside when I first tested the shoes, very obvious where my foot needed to be landing and the fact that the heel of the shoe isn’t super thick like most cross-trainers meant that I wasn’t over compensating to make sure I landed on the front half of my foot and in so doing straining my peronius brevis.  I was able to keep a nice fast cadence with light foot-fall, landing properly on my midfoot keeping my feet underneath my hips and I was surprised at how quickly the forty minutes flew by.  I guess without any leg pain running doesn’t seem so tedious.  ” Read more here.

And another review from amateur runner Andrea Hill.

“The shoes are built up on the midfoot so I do feel naturally propelled forward, even just standing still. When running, it feels awkward to let your heel touch down, so it wasn’t something I had to necessarily concentrate on: I naturally gravitated to running on my midfoot. I had met someone in Boston who had Newtons, and she warned me they were rough on the calves. I can see how this is, they’re much more engaged. This will definitely take some getting used to. I did notice that hills were much easier to approach, as I was already landing appropriately on my feet.” Read more here.

At Newton HQ, the crew is recovering from an awesome week spent in Boston at the marathon. We met lots of terrific folks and had a blast at the Newton booth hanging out with Lorraine Moller and Josh Cox.

A big congrats goes to Newton’s new president, Stephen Gartside, who impressively finished his first Boston Marathon in 2:57! Danny Abshire, one of Newton’s co-founders, also raced and finished the marathon. Nice work gentlemen!

Around the globe, Newton’s pro team also had a great weekend.

First up was the Duathlon Elite National Championships in Birmingham, AL on Saturday, April 18th. On the women’s side, Jessica Jacobs led the women through the first run and never looked back. Her wire to wire win, earned her the title of Elite National Duathlon Champion. On the men’s side, in his first elite duathlon race, Guy Petruzzelli placed a respectable 6th place despite having some nutritional difficulties throughout the race. Congrats to both of these athletes on their great performances.

On the other side of the globe – the Ironman China event was being contested in Hainan China on April 19th. This event turned out to be one of the hottest Ironman events on record – with the mercury hitting levels above 110 degrees F. Despite having to ride a brand new bike out of the box due to his bike being lost in transit, Ironman Arizona Champion Jozsef Major endured the heat and took the final men’s podium slot in 3rd place. On the women’s side, Yvette Grice also gutted it out in the extreme conditions and placed a respectable 7th place in the women’s event.

If you’re racing or spectating at the Boston Marathon this weekend, be sure to stop by and see us at the Newton booth (1419) in the John Hancock Sports & Fitness Expo and Bib Number Pick-Up area. Boston winner and marathon legend Lorraine Moller will be signing copies of her new book “On the Wings of Mercury” on Fri. from 2-5pm at the booth and Sat. and Sun. from 1-5pm.

Running superstar Josh Cox will be at the booth on Sunday at 1pm.

On race day, keep an eye out for Newton president Stephen Gartside and co-founder Danny Abshire who will both be running Boston for the first time!

Hope to see you there!

Well, it has been awhile since my last update… my race calendar has not been as intense as it was last season, but that is due to my squeezing in a few full Ironman distance events throughout the year.

My win at Ironman Western Australia last December, has had a lot more impact on my career than I had originally anticipated. Previously, I used to do rummage through the industry magazines, to see if there was any mention of my name, or to see if I showed up in any of the photos… Well, the last several months have been an eye-opening experience in terms of the media exposure that I’ve received since December.

Even in the lead up to Country Energy Ironman Australia Triathlon, I was invited to be one of the four professional triathletes to speak at the VIP Breakfast Function on Friday morning. The other three athletes however, were all past or current Hawaiian Ironman Champions, in Chrissie Wellington, Michellie Jones, and Tim DeBoom. I was honored to be invited, and to be listed with some of the legends in this sport.

Other than that, I had a few other media responsibilities, but tried my best to keep a low profile before the race. That can be a bit difficult when you’re racing in your hometown… even just stepping out for a coffee, took longer than expected with all the locals wishing me good luck for the race.

For any of you that have read some of the reports from this race, you will know that our weather was not ideal in the lead up to the race. Fortunately for me, I knew the course, and I was meant to taper anyway, but we had rain on and off throughout the week. This must’ve been frustrating for a lot of the visiting athletes, that were hoping to get familiar with the course during that time. (more…)

A couple weeks ago, PopSci.com featured a cursory review of the science behind Newton Running technology in a post by Adam Weiner.  While the story was generally positive, it also seemed a bit subjective since Mr. Weiner had not actually tried running in a pair of Newtons. So we contacted him, sent him a pair of shoes to test and he just posted a follow up feature. Check it out here – it’s a terrific, interesting review.  If you’re so inclined, be sure to add a comment at the end of the story, so PopSci will continue to run features like this.

The British Bulldog (aka Steve Spiers) from Virginia Beach, VA writes this terrific blog about his daily running experiences. He’s also responsible for the the “100 Push Up” challenge that’s popping up all over the web right now.  Last week he bought his first pair of Newtons and took them for a test drive.  He’s posted an interesting, detailed review of his initial experience in Newtons here.

Check the Bulldog’s blog, then sign up for his 100 Push Up Challenge. Sir Isaac just did – his arms are flabby and chicken-like. Time to tone up for swimsuit season, baby!

It was a great weekend of  racing for our NEWTON RUNNING athletes.  The weekend started with the Ironman 70.3 California event in Oceanside.  Jozsef Major place a respectable 10th place in a very strong men’s field.  Next for Jozsef is Ironman China on April 19, 2009

On the other side of the globe the Ironman Australia event took place.  The race was touted as the Chrissie vs Michellie show- unfortunately Michellie Jones did not start the event due to illness.  On the men’s side NEWTON sponsored athletes Pete Jacobs and Tim Berkel had incredible races placing 2nd and 3rd respectively.  Pete continues with his assault on the Ironman and Ironman 70.3 racing – proving he is one of the athletes to watch at any event.  Tim Berkel’s rounded out the podium – backing up his win at the Ironman Western Australia in December.

At the Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans the incredible Natascha Badmann began her comeback.  And what a start it was – Natascha blazed through the race and from the sounds of it, even surprised herself with a convincing win over a super-competitive field.  There is no doubt that Natascha is an athlete on a mission – and it is great to see her back at the top.   Another NEWTON sponsored athlete Jessica Jacobs placed 13th in the professional women’s category. Read the TriathleteMag.com full recap here.

The weekend finished off  with the Carlsbad 5000 – where Sylvia Mosqueda (representing Newton) won the women’s masters event in a time of 16:56.

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Here’s a nice video recap of last January’s Challenge Wanaka Triathlon in New Zealand. It’s a spectacular race and Newton is a proud sponsor. Scroll to the 3:40 mark to watch Chris McDonald cruising to victory in his Newton Distance S shoes.