Rss/XmlOutdoor Retailer Low Down
The first time I arrived in Salt Lake City's Salt Palace Convention Center for Outdoor Retailer, I knew I had found a second home. Walking around was like seeing my Rolodex come to life. This year is no different.
Fellow CheckpointZero blogger Mike Bitton is here, working hard as always. Troy Farrar is making the rounds, representing adventure racing with his usual easy-going authority. I had dinner last night with Rebecca Rusch and Jon Dorn, the editor of Backpacker Magazine, to talk about our incipient plans to race in Primal Quest. Even Adam Doti, the face of adventure racing in the Bay Area and a key member of Team Dirty Avocados, is here, hitting up gear makers and generating sponsorships.
In a word, AR is well-represented. There's been some talk recently, some hand-wringing, some whinging, about how how our sport is on the decline. To that I say: not really. Sure, it's incredible growth hasn't sustained itself over the past ten years, but that would be impossible. Adventure racing is now in a maturing phase, a phase that means we've actually made it as viable, well-known sport - at least around these people.
And these are the people who count most to our community. They're the ones that run the retail outlets where we buy our gear. These are the people who cough up sponsorships so that we can AFFORD gear. And they're the people who actually make the gear that we use.
I met with the two head marketing people at Wigwam, makers of killer socks, and they couldn't have been more happy with Robin Benincasa, who has been relentless in putting out the word on her sponsor. I had a meeting with the PR maven of The North Face, Amy Goldhammer, who was pumped about her company's new AR shoe, the Crusade. (An early look at this shoe is exciting folks - it's a very light, really functional, grippy shoe that should really get some attention from us).
In the show's daily magazine, they interviewed six people and asked, "Who is your Outdoor Idol?" That's a big question, and the responses ranged from Magellen to Meriweather Lewis. But two people cited adventure racers: Rebecca Rusch and Ian Adamson.
So that, I think, shows that the exploits of racers still resonate with the people who count. So quitcher whinging and make plans to attend Outdoor Retailer next summer.
Did I mention that a ton of booths have free beer every afternoon???
