Posted: March 3, 2006

Athletics: Ten Retailers Sweep to Wins in Runner's World Inaugural "Runner's Choice Awards"

Runners salute their favorite specialty running stores, by region, in online voting program

NEW YORK - (March 2, 2006) - Ten specialty running stores swept their respective U.S. regions in all four categories - Best Customer Service, Best Community Outreach, Best Product Selection and General Excellence - in the final balloting for the first-ever Runner's Choice Awards for specialty retail, sponsored by Runner's World.

The online voting program, which began February 5 and ran thru February 19, was designed to give runners across the country a chance to honor their favorite specialty running stores. The Runner's Choice Awards were promoted in tandem with the Specialty Retail Directory in the March 2006 issue of Runner's World (still currently on sale) and at RunnersWorld.com.

More than 5,200 runners cast their votes in support of their favorite running stores, and ten retailers swept each of the four categories in all ten U.S. regions. The winners in each region, for Customer Service, Community Outreach, Product Selection and General Excellence, were:

REGION....................RETAILER
Mid-Atlantic..............Fleet Feet Sports (Baltimore, MD)
Mountain..................Colorado Running Company (Colorado Springs, CO)
New England...........Rhode Runner Sports (Providence, RI)
Northeast Central....Playmakers (Okemos, MI)
North Midwest.........Running Wild (Coralville, IA)
Pacific Northwest....Fleet Feet Sports (Sacramento, CA)
South Atlantic...........Raleigh Running Outfitters (Raleigh, NC)
Southeast Central.... Fleet Feet Sports (Huntsville, AL)
Southern California...Road Runner Sports (San Diego, CA)
South Midwest.........RunTex (Austin, TX)

Each of the winning stores in the Runner's Choice Award voting program will receive national in-magazine recognition from Runner's World, along with designation as a Runner's Choice Award winner within RunnersWorld.com's online retailer directory.

Winners will also receive in-store award recognition collateral from Runner's World, recognition at the WSA Shoe Show in Las Vegas in August 2006 and the right to incorporate the Runner's Choice Award logo into local advertising, customer mailings and other marketing efforts.

"Because specialty retail stores very often provide the heartbeat of their local running communities, runners can be very passionate when they find a retailer that is truly best in class," said Runner's World VP/Publisher Andrew Hersam. "That certainly proved to be the case in balloting for the Runner's Choice Awards, where runners were active in making sure their favorite retailers gained the recognition they deserve.

"We're proud to have initiated this program, and we look forward to continuing to honor these retailers, who do so much on behalf of the sport and their local running communities."

For more information on the Runner's Choice Awards, visit RunnersWorld.com, where voting results for regional winners in each category, as well as the state-by-state leaders in general excellence voting, are also available.

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services Director
385 Oak View Lane
Santa Barbara, CA 93111

(805) 696-6232, fax (805) 967-5958
Ryan@RunningUSA.org
www.runningusa.org.

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