Wired.com (one of Sir Isaac’s favorite sites) features a thoughtful, comprehensive, balanced review of the AW’s. Overall they give the AW’s 8 out of 10. We’re pretty happy with that.
The user comments, on the other hand, are not so positive. Check out the review for yourself and feel free to add your own, more enlightened comments. Wired.com Motion AW review.
The April issue of the UK’s Running Fitness magazine has a terrific story about Newton Running. Click the image below to enlarge and read it.
Although he doesn’t actually test Newton shoes, Adam Weiner from Popular Science does have an interesting take on the science of Newton Running technology. I love his intro:
“First of all, let’s set the record straight. Man is a natural long distance runner. Despite impressions to the contrary foisted on us daily from our predominantly sedentary and “well-fed” modern lifestyle, it is interesting to note that for long enough distances a well-trained human can outrun just about any other creature on the planet.”
He goes on to note,
“In fact, consider the following: Man evolved to run barefoot, and shoes arrived on the scene only in the last few tens of thousands of years or so. Try running barefoot some time (preferably on a softer surface like grass) and pay attention to your foot strikes. You might find that it’s almost impossible to land heel first. Your command central (your brain) just won’t let you do it. Too much jarring. Your bare heel isn’t designed to handle that pounding. The evidence supports that landing nearer the middle to front of the foot is the most efficient way to go.”
Check out the full Popular Science story here. We’re going to try and get Mr. Weiner in some Newtons so he can actually try them for himself.
Newton Running continues to be a supporter and huge fan of Winter Vinecki, the 10-old-year triathlete who last year raised over $100,000 for Athletes for a Cure in honor of her dad who was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Last week, Winter and her family were on Rachel Ray! Check out the below video where Winter is showing off her hot pink Newtons. Awesome!
Winter Vinecki on the Rachael Ray Show from Athletes for a Cure on Vimeo.
220 Triathlon Magazine is the UK’s number one resource for multi-sport athletes. The February issue features an interesting and comprehensive article on forefoot running with a focus on Newton Running shoe technology. It’s well-written and well-worth a read. Click the image to download a pdf of the article.
In related news, 220 Magazine just named Newton the “Innovative Product of the Year” at its annual, star-studded awards ceremony. Read more here.
According to our terrific distributors in the UK, Triathlon Consultants, the Brits love their Newtons (fig and running shoe variety)!
Legendary runner Rod Dixon is a Newton Running convert. Check out the below photo of Rod with his daughter finishing last year’s NYC marathon in his Newton Gravity’s. He won the NYC marathon back in 1983.
Rod is also wearing the Motion AW’s in this LA Roadrunners video. Looking great Rod!
Magazine shoe reviews can be mixed bag. The current issues of Runner’s World and Running Times are a great example.
We’ve been working for almost two years to get Runner’s World to review our shoes. The hold-up seemed to be that Newton didn’t fit any of RW’s standard shoe test categories. Finally, when New Balance introduced its own forefoot/midfoot shoe, the 800, Runner’s World had a category and could publish a comparison of the shoes. Of course, the comparison is apples versus oranges. We have to agree with blogger Jim Gosse’s critique of the review. Click the following link to read the article and form your own opinion. runnersworld_feb09_gravity
Interestingly, Runner’s World UK has a similar, but much more positive review of the Newton shoe. Click the image below to read their review.
Meanwhile, the March issue of Running Times features a in-depth article on midfoot running by Brian Metzler. In the story, Metzler includes quotes from the major proponents of midfoot running, including Danny Dreyer, Malcolm Balk, Nicholas Romanov and Newton Running’s cofounder, Danny Abshire. The article delves into the history of running technique and includes results from some interesting midfoot running studies. It’s a much more detailed and in our opinion, more valuable story for readers than the very cursory midfoot shoe review in Runner’s World.
At Newton Running, our first priority is helping runners to learn faster, more efficient running technique. Metzler’s article in Running Times presents one of the more comprehensive and compelling arguments for runners to try midfoot running that we’ve seen to date.
Click the following link to read the Running Times story and you can be the judge. Running Times Mar09_Newton
Tune in to NBC on Saturday, December 13, 2008 from 2:30-4:00pm ET and watch Newton athlete Craig Alexander bring it home on Ali’i Drive in the Distance S. “Crowie” ran the fastest marathon split of the day (2:45) en route to winning his first Ironman World Championship.
Watch Craig’s personal recap video:
And here’s some footage from the race (complete with thrilling Pirates of the Caribbean music).
CBS Early Show Holiday Gifts, Dec. 4, 2008
Mike Roberts, senior editor at Outside Magazine, recommends the new Motion AW as a great holiday gift for runners.
Check it out! Right underneath Brit’s butt, there’s a shot of Will running through Central Park in some Newton Gravity trainers! Click the page to enlarge (Will Ferrell that is, not Britney’s backside).
It looks like he needs to work on his running form a bit, but we’re psyched to see him in our shoes. Will is a serious runner, who ran the 2003 Boston Marathon in 3:56. It looks like we might need a celebrity page for all the shots of famous folks in our shoes!
