SOLE Blog

December 21st, 2010

SOLE Adopts Nick Hearn for the 2011 Virgin London Marathon

SOLE knows what a huge difference having the right kit can make. For runners, wearing the right footwear is even more important. In 2010, SOLE supported several top notch athletes with footwear including runner Marie-Louise Stenild, the first woman to run seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.

We have heard firsthand from their athletes what a difference their products make, so with the Adopt a Runner project they decided to take their support one stage further. SOLE offered a package which included a high performance running kit, a gait analysis to fit the perfect pair of trainers, individually designed training plans and ongoing PT support.

SOLE opened their competition to all runners with a valid London Marathon ballot and asked entrants to write in telling them why they should be selected as the SOLE adoptee. Entries came in thick and fast thanks to publicity from magazine websites such as Men’s Running, Women’s Running and Women’s Fitness; running blogs; Twitter and Facebook. SOLE was delighted to hear that several charities were circulating the competition to their own London Marathon runners.

Choosing a winner was an extremely tough decision, but after much deliberation Nick Hearn, a Head teacher from Bedfordshire was selected. VLM 2011 will be Nick’s first ever marathon and he’s running to raise money for Help the Hospices. Earlier this year Nick’s best friend, a 43 year old father of three, died at his local hospice. As they shared their last whisky together, Nick promised he would run the marathon to raise money for the hospice and his friend bet him he couldn't do it. Now he’s running to keep his word.

Nick's response after receiving his SOLE gear

"Well...now I FEEL like a real runner. Yesterday, I went to London and, thanks to the incredible generosity of SOLE, I have some wonderful running clothes and a fantastic pair of running shoes. Of course, with the SOLE inserts, they feel more comfortable than ever before and running tomorrow will hopefully now be a breeze. The gait analysis I undertook was fascinating and clearly demonstrated the benefit of selecting the correct pair of running shoes... which I have now thanks to SOLE."

Special thanks to Runners Need for donating the Gait Analysis and new Adidas Trainers!

Posted by: Matt Lambert at 3:27 p.m. in Athletes | Comments (0)