by Larry EderThe runners who were here for the 2012 ING NYC Marathon showed up in droves at the NYC Expo today. They were there to pick up their numbers, a souvenir for a marathon that would never happen. They were also there to purchase footwear and apparel that had been discounted industry wide and proceeds donated to Hurricane Relief. ASICS, Saucony, New Balance, Mizuno, Brooks were among the companies putting their money where their mouths were.
An Expo for a Cancelled race
Last night the score was Mother Nature one, NYRR, zero. There was some real good things that happened at the expo that showed how the running industry, the shoe companies in particular, just do the right thing.
Saucony had announced that, two days ago, they would donate one pair of shoes to a hurricane relief effort for each pair sold. Next, New Balance donated $250k to hurricane relief, with offer to match any donations made by NB associates.
This morning, Saucony put up a sign that all proceeds from shoes was being donated, for all three days to the America Red Cross. ASICS America, the footwear and apparel sponsor of ING NYC Marathon, announced at 9 am that all product was fifty percent off and all proceeds were going to hurricane relief. Fritz Taylor, GM of Running at Mizuno told me that Mizuno would donate all net proceeds on the sales at the Expo booth to Hurricane Sandy efforts.
A local reporter asked Mark Bossardet, VP of Sports Marketing at Saucony who a footwear company like Saucony would donate all of their proceeds from Expo Sales to the Red Cross, as it made the booth a loss, Bossardet replied, ” Because it is the right thing to do.”
On the twitter world, RBR sent out notes of all the companies who were donating their proceeds to Hurricane relief. We received a note from a Brooks dealer that Brooks was also donating all profits from their sales to Hurricane Relief projects.
