Britek designing advanced running shoe

BOULDER — Danny Abshire runs. A lot. He’s been doing marathons for 21 years. Currently, he’s training for a 50-mile race. He’s also run the Leadville 100-mile race four times. That’s not a misprint. 100 miles. In Leadville, where the air’s thinner than a cover girl on a diet.

From Active Imprints, the Boulder running store Abshire has owned with his wife, Jennifer, since 1988, he makes insole supports for the University of Colorado athletic department, and while living in Aspen he made custom insole ski boot supports for the U.S. Olympic ski team.

So he knows a thing or two about running and feet. As does Brian Russell, another devoted runner who’s spent almost 30 years researching, testing and designing athletic footwear, exercise equipment and nutritional supplements.

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Together, in 1998, after six years of planning and designing, the two started Britek Footwear Development LLC, which they believe will provide the advancements in athletic shoes that athletes have been waiting for.

Since running shoes hit the market in the ’70s, “there hasn’t been much new technology – just a lot of fluff,” says Abshire, who’s taken the businessman role in the company, looking for capital and establishing connections. Athletes are “ready for the technology,” he adds.

“We’re going to fill a need that shoe manufacturers have left open,” says Russell, who’s developed the technology behind Britek’s shoes and already has two patents on the technology with three more filed.

The technology crammed into Russell’s prototypes could make your head spin, but it comes down to this: Britek’s designs utilize three rigid chambers (under the heel, ball of the foot and toes) covered with highly elastic rubber that stores and retrieves energy. The chambers return the runner’s energy and propel them forward.

While Mark Plaatjes, co-owner of the Boulder Running Company, didn’t want to venture any opinions on something he hadn’t seen or worn, he did say the concept didn’t sound all that original. He said that many companies have similar systems, and that “it’s just a matter of what material they use.”

That makes all the difference in the world, though, according to Abshire. The shock absorber/energy return systems (whether it’s “gel” or “air”) on today’s shoes are surrounded by foam. This isn’t as efficient, in terms of energy return and shock absorption, as Britek’s “foamless” units. Additionally, Abshire says the support under the ball of the foot and the toe is “watered down” on most running shoes, as opposed to the designs of Britek, which places a high priority on those two areas.

In a visual demonstration of the system, Abshire banged the sole of a standard running shoe on the floor. The shoe unleashed a loud a smacking sound, but little else. When he smacked a Britek prototype on the floor, it bounced – about six or seven times.

Of course, the inventive technology utilized in Britek’s shoes is applicable to other sports as well. Abshire and Russell, who claim their system can add three to five inches to someone’s vertical leap, also plan on creating a basketball shoe. They also feel their system would help make walking easier and women’s dress shoes more comfortable.

The two will start, however, with the area they know best – running. They plan on selling their running shoes, which will cost “a little more” than other shoes, along with nutritional supplements and their own exercise equipment on the Internet first. (Although, the site isn’t running yet, it will be called Thruster.com.)

And while establishing a name in the vast jungle of e-commerce may sound daunting, the company isn’t worried about a lack of interest. Abshire says Runners’ World and TrIathlete magazines have heard of their plan and will test their shoes. This exposure, along with the many athletes Abshire has gotten to know over the years, will get the word out about Britek, he says. The plan is for the company to then sell to specialty running stores and, eventually, big retailers.

Don’t be looking for their shoes just yet, though. Britek’s first model won’t be out until Christmas, according to Russell. And that’s “if things go really well.” The shoes will be sampled in the fall. Russell and Abshire aren’t rushing the shoes to market because they want to sell a shoe “without any kinks.”

The company wasn’t in any rush to get outside financing, either, Abshire says. They waited to illicit outside capital until the spring of 1998, six months after they tested their first prototype, because they wanted to make sure they had a product worth investing in, says Russell.

The company was also careful about who they secured capital from.

“We wanted the right type of investor,” says Russell. “The kind who wants to help runners.”

So they found two Boulder businessmen and avid runners, Bill Reynolds and Gerry Lee, and 21-time Ironman triathlon winner (including eight wins in the famous Hawai race), Paula Newby-Fraser.

“She believes in the product,” says Abshire of Newby-Fraser, “because she hasn’t seen any improvements in running equipment.”

Now with more than $400,000 in capital, Britek is plowing ahead with more research, development and testing. “It’s taken a long time to get where we are, but we’ve still got a little farther to go,” Abshire says. “We’re just a couple of guys trying to make something happen.”