Drymax, Why We Race

A Runner Rockin' Drymax Socks At The AR50

Upon receiving some gentle prodding from the subtle and charming Olga Varlamova and candid Evan Hone, I was reminded that I have been neglecting our blog while favoring our Facebook and Twitter Accounts. Check those out by the way! They are just easier, like microwaving food but probably not as good for you. They are both right, if we have a blog we should give it the attention it deserves and spend a little time with it.

Ellie Greenwood Joyfully Bounding Along At Mile 31

This weekend I was fortunate to spend in Sacramento visiting many old and new friends at the American River 50 mile race. We are very fortunate to have some splendid athletes turn in some amazing performances with Ellie Greenwood victorious in the women's division and Ian Sharman securing 3rd in the men's division. We also had other top 5 female performances and top 10 men's.

Ian Sharman Cruising Through Granite Bay

After the race, I was speaking with the charming Ian Sharman and made an interesting observation when asked, "Who doesn't wear Drymax socks?" I looked around and saw plenty, but I was okay with that because that means we have companies to compete with. This was further made clear when I was speaking with Eric Dube as he waited for his lovely wife Tara to finish (top 5 by the way) and we spoke about competition and how grateful we are to have it so we can measure our results in such an absolute way.

IndyCar At Long Beach Grand Prix 2010

I come from a perspective of motor sports, as a huge follower of what was Champ Car now IndyCar and that is what inspired me to seek out athletes to work with and to improve our products for general consumers. Back in it's prime, CART as it was known, was what I felt to be the pinnacle of motor sport (yeah I'm sure I'll hear about my opinion) because they had unfettered competition between multiple chassis makers, tire suppliers and engine suppliers competing on every discipline from road courses, ovals, super speedways and street courses. This produced an arms race constantly improving technology every week or face the possibility to falling behind and becoming non-competitive. Some succeeded some did not, that is what is considered to be survival of the fittest. Now IndyCar has lost it's way over the last few years since there is only 1 engine supplier, 1 tire supplier and 1 chassis provider, other than contrived competition and reliability no technology is being advanced forward because there is no competition between manufacturers (hopefully that will change in 2012 with new rules allowing additional manufacturers).

Sean Meissner Cooling Down Jamie Donaldson In Death Valley 2010

I recently read Dakota Jones insightful article about sponsorship in ultras on IRunFar.com and felt it was rather well thought out. Anybody who knows ultras and it's market size knows that there is really not any money there to justify throwing huge sums of money at it. As a small company we don't have the resources to do this anyway. We don't pay our athletes, we can't except for two. Full Disclosure: We do monetarily support Jamie Donaldson as her primary sponsor, we also pay a modest stipend to one additional very elite ultra runner who we shall leave anonymous, believe me it's modest. Because Drymax works, our athletes, for which we have over 60, wear our socks, give feedback and do very kind grassroots mentions about us in blogs, interviews and allow us to use their images in ads. Why? First, because they are all very cool people. Second, because for so many of them we have changed the way they compete because they aren't having the same foot issues they did before allowing them to concentrate on the task at hand which is finishing a very long race.

Famous Feet Wearing Drymax at AR50

It is with great pride that we attend races and see very elite athletes wearing our socks without us even knowing about it. It happened again this weekend at AR50 when I looked down and saw one of the most accomplished ultra runners in the world wearing our socks (I won't say who since I don't want that person to have a sponsorship conflict without her approval). The athlete said he/she loves them and always looks for one of the two pair the athlete has every time he/she goes out running. I got to tell you it is moments like that that we get a big fat stamp of approval on what we are doing. Additionally, we are seeing many people wearing our socks in the mid pack and bringing up the rear with equally as compelling stories, which we have great pride in being part of those racer's adventure as well.

I will have to give the benefit of the doubt to all sponsors of ultras and their sponsored athletes who participate week in and week out because they aren't there for the vast fortunes to be made, cause there isn't any. We are all there to see where we stack up with other manufacturers on an even playing field. That is why you hear certain runners skip, what they feel, are less competitive races for those that are stacked with fierce competition, so they can see where they stack up, good or bad, sponsors often want to see that as well.

Another big reason why we race, specifically in ultras, is the iconic nature of the events and the accomplishments. We feel that if runners can compete at the highest levels in daunting conditions for extreme distances with minimal foot issues then we can take what we have learned to marathons, 10k's, 5k's and even benefit charity walks. In every running shop you have one person who runs ultras, that person knows all of the players in the sport and what equipment they are using with success. That information is then passed along at retail to the guy who needs to lose 20 lbs to the person who wants to compete in their first marathon.

Andy Jones-Wilkins Congratulating His Friend Craig Thornley After AR50

I could go on and on about why we continue to be part of ultra racing, we have had a blast doing it so far, we enjoy the great people we meet, the places we see, we love the stories we hear and yeah, we love to win. Most importantly, have been so warmly welcomed into the ultra running community and we just love being involved with positive, friendly and adventurous people.

photos by Bob MacGillivray