Posted: July 18, 2005

Athletics: Runner's World to Identify Best Running Shoes Worldwide

New Editor's Choice Award™ Seal and Standards in Fall 2005

NEW YORK - (July 14, 2005) - Runner's World is launching a global initiative to find and designate the best shoes in the world, effectively bringing the highly coveted Editor's Choice Award™ even greater distinction for runners, manufacturers and retailers, it was announced by Adam Bean, International Managing Editor for the title.

With this initiative, all of the editors of the title's eight international editions, including the flagship U.S. edition, will test the same footwear simultaneously, and will have ongoing, real-time dialogue through a newly formed site hosted by parent company Rodale Inc., to appraise and determine the best shoes in the world. Consequently, the "Editor's Choice Award"™ Seal of Approval Program will be re-launched within the near future to reflect this global collaboration, so that runners around the world will recognize the International Editor's Choice seal as a way to help them select the most appropriate shoe for their level and needs.

The awards will be presented twice a year, in the spring and fall.

"The global shoe-rating method is a boon to shoe companies, retailers and certainly to the audience we all care most about - our runners," said Bean. "For nearly 40 years, RW has been the No. 1 most trusted, independent source people turn to, and as we continue to grow internationally, we felt that it was vital that the scope of our research expand accordingly."

Presently, in North America, running shoes are put through rigorous testing by Runner's World editors, the magazine's 300 wear-testers, and via mechanical testing at its one-of-a-kind Runner's World Shoe Lab in the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Lab at Michigan State University. Runner's World is the only publication in the world that independently tests running shoes this way.

Beginning in the Fall of 2005, to coincide with November's ING New York City Marathon, running shoe companies will be asked to present all new shoes to all Runner's World editors simultaneously, rather than edition-by-edition as had been done previously. The findings of the Runner's World experts will be based on the results of the new, state-of-the-art, global wear-testing system; the extensive information contained within the new central electronic databank; and the consensus reached following the ongoing dialogue among the group of editors worldwide.

"As a truly worldwide brand, our goal was to determine how to create a consistent shoe-testing method in order to produce a more global Runner's World Shoe Guide in the coming year, which will run in each of the magazine's eight editions," said Bean. "Not only will this be cost effective for all of our editorial teams, but it will allow our advertising and marketing teams to leverage Runner's World in ways we've never been able to."

This global initiative came from a recent meeting of shoe editors, publishers, and marketers from the eight international editions of Runner's World magazine in Madrid, Spain. This first-ever Runner's World Shoe Summit was an effort to better leverage the magazine's running-shoe testing on a worldwide level.

Runner's World first established itself as a global brand in 1993, with the launch of editions in South Africa and the UK. Today, the brand boasts eight editions in 10 countries-Australia/New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands/Belgium, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the United States and is recognized as the authority on running information worldwide.

About Rodale's Runner's World
Recognized as the worldwide authority on running information, the mission of Rodale's Runner's World is to inform, advise and motivate runners of all ages and abilities. Runner's World, a Running USA Founding Member, aims to help runners achieve their personal health, fitness and performance goals and to inspire them with vivid, memorable storytelling. Currently, Runner's World published eight international editions, plus a special bi-annual teen running publication, High School Runner. Runner's World's companion website, RunnersWorld.com, is the largest running community on the Internet, featuring interactive, searchable and targeted content for runners of all ages and abilities.

About Rodale Inc.
As one of the world's most trusted sources for health-and-wellness content, Rodale Inc. reaches more than 30 million people in 42 countries each month through its category-leading media properties and integrated marketing solutions. For more than 60 years, the privately held company has inspired and enabled people to improve their lives through its reporting of groundbreaking, science-based health-and wellness information. Rodale's magazines, including the worldwide brands Men's Health, Prevention and Runner's World, as well as Backpacker, BestLife, Bicycling, Mountain Bike, Organic Gardening and Organic Style, regularly garner honors for editorial, design and circulation performance and, as a whole, consistently outperform industry averages in both ad-page and ad-revenue growth.

Rodale is also the largest independent book publisher in America, with an expanding stable of international titles. Recent New York Times Bestsellers include the titles within The South Beach Diet and The Abs Diet franchises, as well as Pete Rose: My Prison Without Bars and Dr. Shapiro's Picture Perfect Weight Loss. Special interest publications, including the company's newest title, Women's Health; a broad range of successful interactive media products, like www.absdiet.com; and integrated marketing solutions, such as the custom-publishing partnership with Curves International, are among the assets that round out Rodale's portfolio of innovative, mission-based brands and properties.

Source: Susan Lietz, Rodale, Chris Brienza, Runner's World-U.S.