There will be plenty to do and see in addition to the great races this weekend at the flrunners.com Invitational 9 Presented by Nike. Our friends at Nike have really stepped up their game to help us elevate the meet and give you more to do and see while there.
On Friday join us in welcoming our Olympic guest Anna Willard. After setting an American record in the 3000 Meter Steeplechase this year (later broken by Florida's Jenny Barringer), Anna made her Olympic debut in Beijing in that event--the first time it was ever contested at the Olympic Games. She is known for her out going personality as well as her ever changing hair color! Anna will be speaking at the BCC Gym on Friday night at 7:15 and also joining us to hang out and give awards the rest of the weekend. Admission to the speaking engagement is free!
At this summer's Olympics Anna competed wearing state-of-the-art Swift apparel, which provides 7% less drag than the Athens version worn by Asafa Powell. They are made entirely of recycled polyester yards reclaimed from soda bottles, post-consumer uniforms, post-and industrial fiber scrap. The Swift technology has netted 76 medals and 25 world records to date.
This Olympic Swift apparel is soley produced for athletes competing in the Olympic Games. It will be displayed exclusively at the flrunners.com Invitational where you will have the opportunity to touch and feel the products worn by the best athletes in the world including Sanya Richards, Xavier Carter, Bernard Lagat, Paula Radcliffe, and Lauryn Williams.
This apparel will be displayed during Nike's innovation presentation, custom built and designed for our meet. Also on display will be the Victory Spike, which is the lightest track & field shoe ever created at under 100 grams.
Based by the design of this high performance shoe, the engineers of Nike have created a comsumer version called the Zoom Victory Spike and the Zoom Matumbo. They are designed for middle-distance and distance runners and feature Nike's Flywire technology, the lightest and strongest footwear techonology available, reducing the amoutn of material required for the upper of a shoe to the bare minimum.
American miler Alan Webb was the first athlete to try to Nike Zoom Victory more than a year ago. He wore it in Brasschaat, Belgium where he broke the American record in the mile with a time of 3:46.91. Bernard Lagat also wore the spike in the World Championships in Osaka where he won the 1500 and the 5000 meters. Also in Osaka, just before the 10K Kara Goucher was given a pair of the Zoom Maumbos and won bronze.
Be sure to check out Nike's innovation presentation to see these products first hand. There will be a number of other displays for you to check out and videos to watch. There will be signs and staff to direct you to the room, which will be open on Friday on the stage of the BCC Gym.
Nike will have these Olympic-insired, just released, products for sale including the Zoom Victory+ ($100) and the Zoom Matumbo ($110). The Lunaracer+ ($100) and Lunar Trainer+ ($100) will also be avaialble, which feature Nike's new Lunarlite Foam technology, the lightest and most table cushioning material available.