A few highlights from Newton Running athletes racing across the country last weekend:

Newton’s original superfan Brandon Wood finished 38th overall and 12th in his age group at the New York City Triathlon. Here’s what he had to say about the race:

“About 1/3 of the way through the swim I took in an enormous gulp of the Hudson River. As a result, I had a bit of nausea on the bike and though I was going to lose it a few times, but everything stayed down. By the time I hit T2, the heat and humidity was really setting in and a lot of people were really feeling it especially on the shade-less run on W. 72nd Street. I really felt good on the run and kept dumping as much cold water on my head as I could get my hands on. Thankfully, the uppers of my Gravitas trainers are so open, the water just ran out. I finished with a time of 2:14:45 grabbing my elite qualifying time by a whopping 15 seconds.”

Congrats B-Wood! We’re proud of ya and one day we’ll say “we knew him way back when…”

Tatiana Vertiz raced the Vineman 70.3 yesterday and got first in her age group (20-24).

Dennis Meeker finished the Roth Ironman in 8 hours and 57 minutes.

Ryan Sutter, of ABC’s The Bachelor fame, raced the Xterra Beaver Creek, CO in Newtons last weekend as part of his 10.10.10 campaign against cancer.

Team MOFR also had a strong showing for Newton at the Beaver Creek Xterra as Greg Abrahamson got the top podium spot in his age group.

Congrats folks!

Last week Newton had three athletes competing in the Badwater Ultramarathon, the 135-mile run sufferfest that rises 13,000 feet from Death Valley to the portal of Mt. Whitney. Claiming to enjoy “hills, heat, and headwinds” Ian Adamson won the masters category (45+) in his first Badwater race ever with a total time of 34:32:38.

Is that snow on the horizon? Must be a desert mirage.

This year’s race was particularly hot, resulting in times that were 4-5 hours slower than usual.

Ian describes the role that his shoes played in his successful race: “Badwater provides conditions most human’s can’t, or shouldn’t, run in, which in turn provides an opportunity to see how Newton shoes hold up. I ran primarily in the Distance racer, a light-weight racing shoe, that performed remarkably well. I already had 400 miles training on them, so another 100 or in extreme heat confirmed their resilience.” He also claimed that his legs didn’t even feel beaten up at the end, which we find hard to believe!

Also running for Team Newton was Pam Reed, who finished in third place overall for the women with an overall time of 32:23:34. Jim Smith rounded out the trio and made the tough but safe decision to quit around 100 miles in. We also learned that this year’s finishers included a 75 year old man, a crazy guy who ran “the double,” i.e. he turned around and ran all the way back upon finishing, and Marshall Ulrich, who finished for his 22nd time.

Congrats to all the finishers, you guys are a tough group.

On a related note, Ian is still accepting donations on his Badwater page:

Donate $50 or more to Racers Against Childhood Cancer (RACC) and receive a coupon for 40% off a pair of Newton Running shoes (any model.) Here’s How:

• Browse to Ian’s Badwater donation page.
• Make your donation.
• Newton Running will send you unique coupon code and instructions on how to redeem it for your discount shoes.
• Purchase your shoes at NewtonRunning.com and enter the discount code.

The Fine Print

• Offer is available on-line only.
• Coupons code will be issued after donation and can only be redeemed at time of purchase.
• Coupons are valid unill July 31st, 2010.
• Models subject to availability.
• Shipping and taxes will apply (shipping via UPS Ground.)
• Anyone who purchases two or more pairs of shoes on-line in a year can become part of “Club Newton” and will receive an additional item of value such as tech socks, hat, shirt and more with each purchase.

Known as “Queen of the Ultras,” the 56-mile Comrades road race attracted over 16,000 runners to Durban, South Africa. Brazilian Nato Amaral finished the race for the 9th time despite debilitating stomach cramps every step of the way. He decided to cross the finish line hand in hand with some Brazilian friends he met along the way.

Nato then went on to race in the Johannesburg RAC 10K just two weeks after the Comrades. We asked if he got to see any soccer while he was down there to which he replied? “Any soccer? I saw seven games.” Including three Brazil games. Sounds like we found out his real motivation behind his extended South African stay

Even though it is now Tuesday and we hope you have already recovered from your weekend of racing, we wanted to give you a quick recap of Team Newton’s results.

Craig Alexander (pictured left) placed third in the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon in 1:49:45.

Dev Paul got 16th in his age group Ironman France to qualify for Kona.

Tim Berkel got 2nd in Rhode Island’s Ironman 70.3 last Saturday improving upon his 5th place finish at the same race in 2008. He gave us an interesting recap involving a crash with a motorcycle:

“The bike course is a beautiful one-way journey towards Providence with undulating hills along the way. With a few kilometers to go before the end of the bike, I edged away from the group that contained Terenzo (eventual winner), Richie Cunningham, and Graham O’Grady. I might have only had about a 20 or 30 second lead on the main group, but it was enough to be out of their line of vision. As I was approaching the transition area, I had already taken my feet out of my shoes.

There was a photographer on the back of a motorbike in front of me as I was approaching the dismount line. I was alert and focused, but then the motorbike started to slow down. I was only coasting towards the line, but I needed to go around the slowing motorbike. Just as I was coming around the back of him, he swerved across the front of me to pull off the course, and I smashed into the back of his motorbike. I went head first over my handlebars and onto the pavement. I rolled my foot as I came down, and my bike and handlebars got scratched up a bit as well.

Coming out of the transition area and onto the run, I could feel a pain in my foot where I came down awkwardly from my crash. My race had been going quite well, and I was afraid that I was going to have to pull out because of my foot. Terenzo and the other boys were out in front of me, but I still had them in my sights.

After the first few kilometers the pain in my foot began to subside, but as we were heading into the second lap we got to a hill, and Terenzo put the hammer down. I kept him in my sight the rest of the run, but I just didn’t have enough energy to surge back to try to take back the lead. I crossed the line in second place, and I was only 50 seconds behind Terenzo.”

What races do you all have on tap for next weekend?

(photo credit: Kevin Coloton/Competitive Image)

Here in Boulder we had a rainy weekend but still pulled off a successful Natural Running Symposium on Saturday evening and form clinic in a downpour next to the raging Boulder Creek on Sunday morning. Soon we will have video footage available for those who could not attend. The weekend proved successful for Newton athletes as well.

Six days after winning REV 3 Quassy, Craig Alexander grabbed another win at the Boise IM 70.3. Despite nasty cramps, he came over the finish line with in an exciting finish with only 10 seconds to spare. Tim Berkel placed 3rd and had the fastest run amongst the top 5.

Look at that perfect form!

(more…)

Newton Running is proud to support some of the world’s best triathletes like Craig Alexander, but we also have an amazing team of amateur and semi-pro triathletes across the globe. In what we hope will become a regular feature, here are some of Team Newton’s recent results.

Tatiana Vertiz raced the schwag-filled IronGirl 10K in Del Mar CA, finishing third overall and first in the 20-24 age group with a time of 40:22.

XTERRA specialist Rachel Cieslewicz had an uber weekend of training and racing starting with the 5k Law Day on the University of Utah campus, followed by a hard core hill climbing day on the bike and a Sunday morning 22 miler training run. Perfect weekend for her half marathon next weekend in the La Sportiva Mountain Cup race series.

Triathlete Anthony Lee was 15th overall last weekend at the REV 3 Triathlon in Knoxville in the Half Ironman distance, running a 1:26 half marathon at the end of a very tough bike for a total time 4:51. This weekend, Anthony was 2nd in the duathlon race at the Cascade Lake Triathlon, finishing the 3-mile run, 15-mile bike and 3-mile run in a time of 1:15.

Anthony Lee with tri legend Natascha Badmann

Joe McDaniel took second place at the Littlefoot Triathlon in Morrison, Colo. on Sunday – a great way to start his race season.

On May 1, Julia Eyer raced the Avia Wildflower Triathlon, a very competitive California race with thousands of athletes competing in Sprint, Olympic and Half Ironman distances. Julia placed first among under 16 year old females and fifth overall in the Sprint distance for a fantastic win.

And Nato Amarl raced in the International Sao Paulo Marathon in Brazil.

*Update* Guy Petruzzelli had what can only be described as a burly weekend of racing at the Starkerman Challenge in Michigan (4 events in 3 Days) On Friday he placed 2nd in the 5K run with a time of 15:32. Saturday morning there was a reverse triathlon which he won (4.4 mile run, 20 mile bike, 400 meter swim) Later that same afternoon, he won a 40K bike time trial on a “nasty, hilly course.” His weekend finished with a 5K/30.5K duathlon, in which he finished 5th.

Nick Stanoszek raced the Orlando 70.3 and placed 7th in his age group.

Tell us about your race results this weekend. We’ll send a Newton hat to our favorite commenter.

Can you spot the Newton footprints in the Saharan sand?

A few things you should know about the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert of southern Morocco:

-At 250 km over 6 stages, the race was referred to by CNN as “The hardest stage race in the world.”
-All competitors must carry all of their own food and supplies
-Temperatures can reach 120°F around midday

Given those facts, we would like to congratulate Newton Athlete Gary Guller after finishing in 65 hours, 25 minutes for being so coherent in this post-race video:

Gary with his Newtons in the finish area (oh, and did we mention Gary only has one arm and he’s also summited Everest?).

This weekend Dr. Mark Cucuzzella (1110) led a panel on running form in front of a packed house at the Boston Marathon Expo. This morning Mark ran a 2:34:21 at the Marathon placing him among the top Masters finishers, and making it the fourth decade in which he has run a sub-2:35 race. That’s what I call walking (running) the talk.

Congrats to all the Boston finishers! It was a great race with a new record time for the men and a thrilling finish for the women!

Craig Alexandar once again used his dominate running speed and textbook form to pass all challengers and claim a repeat victory at the Ironman 70.3 Singapore this weekend. Check out that photo on the right….he’s just flying. Caroline Steffen from Switzerland won for the women. Read the full race report here.

Crowie is off to a terrific start on his march to a third Ironman World Championship title this season. We saw lots of you this weekend in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Boston – thanks to everyone who came to see us! Now we want to hear how your weekend of racing went?! Post your results in the comments section below.