Our first Natural Running Symposium in Dallas was a huge success (read about it here and here) and now we’re bringing the roadshow east to Boston. Next Friday, March, 19 at 6 p.m. we’re teaming up with Marathon Sports to host our symposium at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge. Then, at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, Danny, Ian and Dr. Mark will lead a free form clinic at the MIT track followed by a Newton Campus Run race. Finally, we’re hosting a second natural running seminar at the Multisport World Expo at the Zesiger Center at 12:15 p.m. Click the image above for all the details. We hope to see you there!

Newton Running is proud to support Britain’s Richard Whitehead, a double amputee who uses our Action/Reaction™ Newton soles on his running prosthetics.

This past weekend Richard ran the Workingham Half Marathon in an crazy fast time of of 1:17:45, a new PR and a new amputee world record!

Congratulations Richard – you are an inspiration!

Another weekend, another victory for Craig Alexander.  This time, Crowie dominated at the Australia Long Course Championship in Huskisson, New South Wales.

It sounds like it was a bit of a wild race with two wrong turns for Crowie and the lead group. But, in what is becoming his trademark fashion, the two-time Ironman world champion bridged a significant gap coming off the bike leg to overtake defending champion Pete Jacobs on the run and with the fastest split of the day.

Read a full race report here.

This past weekend Newton’s Ian Adamson escaped the snow in Colorado to find some sun, surf and most importantly, dry trails in Los Osos, California. For those of you who don’t know, Ian is a seven-time adventure racing world champion, but he’s been retired for several years and now works full-time on Newton’s product development team and serves as our director of research and education.

Ian’s adventure racing days may be over, but apparently his quest for adventure hasn’t been quenched. Ian has committed to run in this summer’s Badwater Ultramarathon. He was in Los Oros for the Montana de Oro 50K trail run, and finished a very respectable 7th place  - according to Ian, “old man should have trained for more than a month.”

Newton runner Van McCarty won the race and set a new course record. Congrats gentlemen!

(photo lovingly ripped from Competitor.com and @Delly Carr)

It was a great day for Newton Running at the Ironman 70.3 Geelong event in Australia on Saturday.   With the fastest run split of the day by almost a minute and a half, Craig Alexander took top honors proving that he will once again be a force to be reckoned with in 2010. Fellow Aussie Tim Berkel also had a great run and finished in 3rd place to round out the podium. Read the full race recap at Competitor.com.

Men
1. Craig Alexander (AUS) 3:53:15
2. Leon Griffin (AUS) 3:54:35
3. Tim Berkel (AUS) 3:56:10
4. Peter Schokman (AUS) 3:56:25
5. Clayton Fettell (AUS) 3:56:39

Women
1. Caroline Steffen (SUI) 4:14:32
2. Carrie Lester (AUS) 4:19:32
3. Lisa Marangon (AUS) 4:19:49
4. Samantha Warriner (NZL) 4:23:01
5. Suzanne Alway (AUS) 4:28:33

Newton Running is a proud sponsor of Ryan Maloney, a 10-year-old from San Diego county who ran his first half marathon last Sunday on behalf of Team Triabetes and Insulindependence.  Ryan has had type 1 diabetes since he was two and has become a great athlete as part of staying healthy. He is the youngest of 50 Team Triabetes members that participated in the Carlsbad marathon and half marathon. Way to go Ryan!

Ryan’s mother sent us this great race report:

Mile 2- Ryan’s teacher  Ms. Bescak jumped on the course with them for 3 miles. Ryan’s blood sugars went low (58) and he took a gel and walked a little bit.

Mile 3- Blood sugars went up to 75

Mile 5- stopped to test blood sugars (82) took another gel.  Mom switches places with Ryan’s teacher for next 3 miles.

Mile 6- bathroom break

Mile 6 1/2- half way through the race and Ryan is smiling and feeling great. Runs the hills with no problems.

Mile 7- the highlight of Ryan’s race- Peter Nerothin the President of Insulindependence comes up from behind us as he is at mile 20 of the full Marathon and cheers Ryan on as he runs with us for a minute.

Mile 8- Mom switches places with two of Ryan’s friends Jacob B. and Jacob U. who run the next 3 miles with him. Ryan doesn’t stop running they just jump in the race course with him.

Mile 10 1/2- Blood sugars drop to 73. Ryan takes another gel.

Mile 11- Ryan’s calves start to hurt and he is starting to feel tired. He walks for a minute.

Mile 12- Ryan’s calves continue to hurt, but he keeps on running.

Mile 13- Ryan finishes the race strong with a time of 2 hours 36 minutes. Second half of the race at a pace of almost 1 minute per mile faster than the first half.

Next year he wants to finish under 2 1/2 hours. (And we’re confident he will!)

This photo was submitted to us by our New Zealand distribution partner, Daniel McDonald. He’s taking part in Epic Camp New Zealand, a 16-day triathlon camp where participants swim, bike and run from Cape Regina at the top of the North Island and finish 2,200 km later at the tip of the South Island. Sir Isaac is pretty jealous – what a cool way to see the country!

Pictured from left to right are Daniel McDonald, Rip Oldmeadow from California and Rob Hill from Australia, just before their first 22K run on day one of the camp.

Photo credit: Nils Nilsen

Newton Running shoes were spotted all over the place last week on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. As runners descended on Waikiki for the Dec. 13 Honolulu Marathon, dozens of runners were seen sporting Newton Running racers and trainers, both in pre-race shag runs and during the race. And a week prior to the marathon, Newton runners could be seen in the Xterra Trail Run World Championships, an event that drew 1,100 runners to the pristine mountain and rainforest terrain of Kualoa Ranch on the north side of the island. (If you’ve seen the movies Jurassic Park, Windtalkers, Pearl Harbor, Godzilla, Tears of the Sun or 50 First Dates or the hit TV show LOST (which were all filmed on this 400-acre working cattle ranch) then you have an idea of the kind of terrain trail runners encountered. Heather Fuhr (third among women, 1:38:01) and Rachel Cieslewicz (seventh, 1:42:13) were among the top Newton runners in the event. Aloha, baby! Check out the full Xterra results here.

There are a lot of crazy ultra-events out there, but this one might take the cake. The DECA Ironman in Monterrey, Mexico is a race to finish 10 Ironman-distance triathlons in 10 days. The fastest cumulative time wins.

Here’s a description from the Competitor website:

Each day, all of the racers head over to the University of Nuevo Leon. Once athletes complete the 2.4 miles of swimming in the pool, they take to the bike and ride over to the local track about 1.2 miles away. The track is located in the Parque Ninos Heroes. Once at the park, athletes must complete 93 laps around the track to obtain the 180 km of riding. After the bike, athletes run the opposite direction around the same track. The 26.2 marathon is made up of 22 laps.

Sounds fun, right?

Eighteen crazy people athletes from around the world started the race and an impressive 11 people finished. The first and only American to enter, Wayne Kurtz, a CFP from Pittsburgh, finished in 5th place with a cumulative time of 141:28:26. He credits his daily recovery and steady running pace to his trusty Newton Gravity’s. We’re proud of you Wayne!!!

The race website with full results is here. Read the recap from Competitor.com here. Next year, they’re offering a double DECA. That’s 76 km of swimming, 3,600 km cycling and 844 km of running. Sign me up!

We’d like to extend a hearty congratulations to Josh Cox, who finished in second place place at the California International Marathon today in a time of 2:13:51, just nine seconds behind the winner, Ethiopian Tasfaye Bekele. This is a new PR for JC, beating his old record of 2:13:54 set in Chicago back in 2000. Apparently there was a big head win from mile 13 on, but Josh is pleased with his performance and his Newton shoes! This race qualifies Josh to race in the next U.S. Men’s Marathon Olympic Trials.