Sullivan Takes 5th At Western States

(left: Kevin Sullivan at Mile 62, top right: Drymax Hot Weather Socks, bottom right: Bob MacGillivray and Kevin Sullivan moments after the finish)

Wow! What an event. We just returned from attending the Western States 100 and were so happy to see so many people and meet so many Drymax wearers.

It was an exciting finish of the race with Patagonia superstar Hal Koerner winning the race. We were receiving third hand text messages from Jamie Donaldson that she was getting by team member Meredith Terranova letting us know that INOV8 runner and Drymax elite athlete Kevin Sullivan was in a very tight battle for second. We waited anxiously at the finish line where Kevin came in an incredibly hard fought 5th.

The first time WS100 competitor surprised alot of people dealing really well with the heat and the altitude as well as fighting some knee pain to overcome the very challenging conditions that saw many elites drop from the event.

Kevin and his crew/pacers all wore Drymax socks for the event, with Kevin selecting 1 pair of Drymax Hot Weather socks that lasted him the duration of the race without failure.

Congratulations to Kevin and all of the competitors at the WS100 for a great effort!

Photos by Bob MacGillivray

Badwater Runner Rick Cheever Visits Drymax

Bob MacGillivray & Rick Cheever In Front Of The Drymax Sock Wall

We love our athletes. Not only are they all great people, but there is no other way to get the real world data and feedback needed to constantly improve our products. We push the design envelope all of the time and sometimes we fail, but without our ultra athletes telling us this we would never know and never be able to fix the problems before the socks hit the market.

Today we had a nice surprise visit from Drymax ultra-athlete Rick Cheever. Rick will be attempting his first 135 Mile Badwater Ultramarathon next month in Death Valley. In doing so he will be raising funds to help stop ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). You can check out his website/blog at http://energeticrick.blogspot.com/2008/07/personal-thoughts-regarding-badwater.html if you want to learn more about Rick and his goal to help eliminate this horrible affliction. Or you can go to http://web.alsa.org/site/TR?px=2245440&fr_id=5752&pg=personal to donate.

Last year, Rick crewed his good friend Ben Davis on the 2,175 mile Appalachian Trail. Ben had never ran more than 100 miles but was able to finish this epic journey in just 66 days raising badly needed money for ALS.

Rick stopped by our office today to pick up some socks for what will be 2 weeks in Death Valley to train for the upcoming 135 Badwater Race. He is optimistic and really geared up for the adventure. He has been wearing Drymax for almost a year now and has offered us some great feedback that has lead to several changes in our socks.

We look forward to seeing how his Badwater adventure turns out! Good Luck Rick!!!

photo by Bob MacGillivray

Karl Meltzer 2 for 2 In 09 Wearing Drymax Socks

Drymax athlete Karl Meltzer has won his second 100 miler of 2009 in as many attempts by crushing his own record at the Bighorn 100 Mile Race. It was no walk in the park though having been attacked by a moose about 1/2 way through the race.

After 2 separate encounters and a high speed chase to evade the mother moose Karl was free to put the pedal to the metal and crank out an amazing time of 19 hours, 15 minutes, 26 seconds which was over two hours and fourteen minutes ahead of his nearest competitor. He also crushed his own course record by about an hour.

About wearing Drymax Maximum Protection socks for the record setting victory Karl stated, "of course my feet held up, look at the socks I'm wearing!" Karl continued, "It was a somewhat wet course, a few muddy bogs that feet were completely submerged. Lots of mud in the shoes, but no issues with feet. The socks really are the best in the business! Hopefully I can recover well for Hardrock in 3 weeks, that should be interesting."

We are especially proud to be part of Karl's Bighorn 100 victory since it is the 25th of his now legendary ultrarunning career! We are also proud that we are the official sock of Karl's Speedgoat 50k Race and the Hardrock 100 where Karl will be going for his 26th victory. Great job Karl!

Check out more about Karl's Moose encounter at his blog: http://karlmeltzer.com/2009/06/the-wild-and-scenic-bighorn-100-gets-a-little-too-wild/ and to find out more about the Speedgoat 50k check out his race site: http://karlmeltzer.com/speedgoat-50k/

photo courtesy Karl Meltzer

Drymax Athlete Sandy Powell Featured In News Leader

Ultrarunning Drymax Athlete Sandy Powell was prominently featured in the her regional newspaper the New Leader, the news source for the Shenandoah Valley. The wonderful article was written about Sandy and her participation in last month's Surgeres 48-hour foot race in France.

Check out the story: http://www.newsleader.com/article/20090617/SPORTS/906170327

Powell, is an educator teaching 5th and 6th grades at the Commonwealth Center For Children and Adolescents, VA and has been teaching for 29 years. In addition she teaches cycling and fitness and fitness classes at AMC Lifetime Fitness Center.

Sandy has been one of the more prolific ultrarunners in the USA having the leading 48 hour race distances in the USA/Canada for the last 3 years with 201.5 miles. She also qualified and ran on the first four USA National Championship 24 hour teams that represented the USA in the World 24 hour championships, in addition she has been part of two teams that have won bronze medals individually placing a personal best of 133.4 miles in 24 hours (6th in the world).

About her experience with Drymax Socks at Surgeres she stated, "I just completed the Surgeres, 2009 invite only race which is run on a 300 meter track for 48 hours. This year, unlike the past two years that I have ran this race, it was very, very hot! (over 95degrees, pretty much both days) I like hot weather but I had not acclimated to this type heat! I have been in this race the last two years and we were blessed with more than an abundance of rain! My feet afterward looked like they had been butchered - blisters, toenails gone, (many of them) , my feet where in a mess needless to say!

This year I ran with the DRYMAX running socks and what a difference they made!... Was I shocked when I took off my shoes - I just can't tell you how good my feet looked after 48 hours of running! My Brooks shoes (another sponsor) were holding up well and I was wondering about the socks! Not another doubt when I looked at my feet! I could wear shoes and walk with no pain! My sister, (my crew) was impressed how good my feet looked - as she has been around in previous races and she knows how bad they were after the previous races. I am so impressed - I wear the DRYMAX socks all the time - I have even given some other runners a pair to try! They feel great on your feet and they do exactly what they say they do - this sock is true to its word!! Thank you and I look forward to having beautiful feet again - (well that depends on the definition of beautiful!)!"

We were very proud and honored to have been along for the ride with Sandy on this wonderful adventure. We look forward to many more success stories from Sandy in the future.

photo courtesy of the News Leader

Drymax Socks Help Civil Air Patrol Cadets

Major James Breedlove, DPM Examines A Cadet's Foot

Drymax socks is proud to have featured in the Spring 2009 California Civil Air Patrol's official magazine "Bear Facts".

Every year the Civil Air Patrol holds a training encampment at Camp San Luis Obispo, CA hosting 175-200 cadets. At the camp Major James Breedlove, DPM, screened all of the 186 cadets and he determined that 65 were at a greater risk of getting blisters. Normally 20% of the cadets develop blisters. Amazingly, only 2 of 186 cadets (less than 2%) needed to be seen by medics for blisters.

According to Dr. Breedlove, "This amazingly low incidence of blisters was attributed to prescreening and wearing Drymax socks. The near complete elimination of blisters meant a significant increase in training time for the cadets."

The Civil Patrol is a Congressionally chartered, federally supported, non-profit corporation that serves as the official auxiliary of the USAF. CAP provides a valuable service providing important search and rescue services and are credited with saving over 100 lives per year. CAP also provides important humanitarian missions often times in support of the Red Cross and in transporting important medical packages often including tissue and blood. 1

The Cadet program is instrumental in teaching leadership to some very fine young individuals and Drymax was very proud to be a small part of their training experience allowing them to focus on the camp and not their feet.

notes: 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Air_Patrol

article reprinted courtesy Bear Facts magazine

Drymax Hyperthin Socks Featured In Washington Post Express

We were very excited to see our new Drymax Hyperthin Socks were featured in today's Washington Post Express. We designed the Hyperthin socks to be the lightest sock on the market. In doing so, we had to make them durable enough to stand up to the most tortuous conditions, so we had runners like Jenn Shelton and friends do the initial testing on these socks without any failures. The Hyperthin socks are available in Black or White and in No Show or Mini Crew. Our size large weighs in at about 10 grams and the mediums in the low 9 gram range and still use our dual layer technology.

Here is the article:

"The Definition Of Socks Appeal: Drymax Socks

KIDS RARELY EXPRESS an interest in sock technology careers, but someone must have grown up fascinated by foot wetness issues. How else do you explain the existence of Drymax Hyper Thin Running Socks?

Instead of simply wicking sweat, the dual fabric design sucks moisture away from the bottom layer of fibers and toward the top layer. We're not entirely sure how that's possible, but it kept our tootsies remarkably dry during a 7-mile jog.

Other technologies also passed our test: An anti-slip wedge kept the fabric from sneaking into our shoes, the flat toe seam made for a comfier fit, and the "active odor control" prevented outrageous stench. Don't believe us? Drymax is so sure it'll knock your socks off that there's a money-back guarantee."

Link: http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2009/06/guinea_pig_the_definition_of_socks_appea.php

Posted By Vicky Hallett at 12:00 AM on June 9, 2009

reprinted courtesy Washington Post Express

Drymax Runners Have A Strong Results At San Diego 100

Drymax Athletes Brian Krogmann (left) and Rick Gaston (right)

The great news just kept coming in from races all over the country. We are very pleased to report that in addition to Jamie Donaldson and Debra Horn's victories Drymax athletes had very strong showings at the San Diego 100 Mile Race.

Tom Nielson (18:21:25) finished 2nd just ahead of fellow Drymax wearer Brian Krogmann (18:23:27). Drymax athlete Rick Gaston (20:00:25) also turned in a great performance with an impressive 6th place finish and a new 100 mile PR.

Tom reported, "Feet are great to day, no blisters or even hot spots. I will continue to wear only Drymax socks during all my runs."

Brian continued, "A few small water crossings and a rocky course and still no blisters; got to love that." Brian's performance was even more impressive since he has had just a few weeks to recover from his dominating record setting victory at the Keys 100 Mile race.

Rick said about his new PR, "Yes, you can bet I was rushing in the end to try and get in under 20 hours. It was going well until the last 7 or so miles, from the last aid station to the finish. I was spent mentally which made it hard to stay motivated and keep pushing. Nevertheless I'm happy with my performance and my time."


Great performances by all and a well deserved congratulations!

photo provided by Rick Gaston

Debra Horn Wins FANS 12 Hour Race

Congratulations to Drymax athlete Debra Horn for her victory in this weekend's FANS 12 Hour race in Minneapolis, MN. Debra completed 70.16 miles in the 12 hours alloted, that is an average of 5.846 mph for 12 hours straight. To make things more challenging, it rained the entire race.

According to Horn, " It rained the entire race and the temperatures were in the low 50s with some wind kicking up half way through the race. I ran the entire race without a sock change although my shoes and socks were completely soaked. I am happy to report that when I took my Drymax socks off at the end of the race I had no blisters."

Beyond just a race, the FANS 12 & 24 Hour Runs are for a good cause. The event supports scholarships for the Family Advocate Network System (FANS) helping inner city kids to college or to other post secondary institutions.

Great job and congratulations Debra Horn!

Jamie Donaldson Wins North Face 50 Mile

Jamie Donaldson Winner 2009 North Face 50 Mile Bellingham, WA

This just in, Drymax athlete and team captain Jamie Donaldson won the women's division at the North Face 50 Mile race in Bellingham, WA in a time of 9 hours 42 minutes 41 seconds.

Jamie ran in third for most of the race then warmed up and kicked it in high gear to take the lead toward the end of the race over second place Alison Hanks and third place Allison Moore.

Jamie wore our prototype Drymax Maximum Protection Trail socks on a test mission with zero blisters.

This victory shows the depth of Jamie's ability. She has won on flat tracks, road courses, fast trails and now an incredibly technical 50 mile race.

Great job Jamie!

Photo provided by Jamie Donaldson

Drymax Socks In Podiatry Today Magazine

I've written before that winning races is fun but truly helping people is what we love to do. We race to use as a proving ground for bigger things. People don't just have foot issues from athletic endeavours, there are many problems stemming from circulation, hyperhidrosis among others that create real life and death health concerns.

With this in mind we are very pleased and excited to have been featured in the June edition of Podiatry Today magazine with a full page article. In addition, two very well known and incredibly respected Podiatrists were interviewed and gave glowing reviews of Drymax socks. Dr. Kent Feldman of San Diego, CA and Dr. Kirk Herring of Spokane, WA both gave candid opinions of our products and how they have helped many of their patients.

In the article Dr. Feldman says about Drymax, "far and away drier than any other company's socks." Dr. Herring added, "These (Drymax) socks are downright great socks."

We are honored to be included in this very prestigious magazine and to be spoken so highly of by such esteemed doctors of podiatry.

reprinted courtesy Podiatry Today Magazine