Marathon Money

Photo Courtesy: Honolulu Marathon

There aren’t too many retail businesses that consider Christmas a secondary shopping season. But after 17 years, The Running Room manager Lerma Jean Nakashima doesn’t need too many words to describe the impact of the Honolulu Marathon on her sales.

“It’s big!” Nakashima says.

The marathon-training season, which starts around August and leads up to the race on the second Sunday of December, accounts for about 60 percent of the Kapahulu store’s sales. Santa Claus doesn’t have that kind of traction, not for businesses like hers that cater to marathon runners.

Overall, the economic impact of last year’s marathon, with its 25,000 finishers, plus their friends and families coming to support them, was estimated at more than $101 million, according to a study led by Hawaii Pacific University professor Jerry Agrusa. And this year, it might be even better.

Race organizers expect the number of higher-spending Japanese marathoners this year to match or exceed last year’s contingent of 17,905, or nearly 63 percent, of entrants. The slight growth among Japanese marathon entrants even bucks a recent trend of declining Japanese visitors to Hawaii. Says HPU’s Agrusa, the strength of Japanese participation shows how comfortable Japanese visitors are with the race and venue, which is particularly significant considering the reduced number of flights and higher surcharge fees.

And not just Japanese, but overall participation in this year’s race could outpace last year’s, because more hotel rooms are expected to be available during race week, Agrusa adds. Last year, events such as the 65th year commemoration of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the NCAA women’s regional volleyball championship coincided with the marathon, keeping away some would-be racers. About 1,000 more people would have liked to make the trip, he estimates. “But they could not come because there was no place for them to sleep.”

All of that is to say, for some small businesses, this niche market is flourishing.

Room with a View

Photo Courtesy: Honolulu Marathon

Since opening in 1976 on Kapahulu Avenue, The Running Room has had a front-row seat to the marathon, just a short jog from the race’s finish line at Kapiolani Park. The store’s big lead-up sales event is its annual marathon sale - 20 percent off shoes - starting the Wednesday before the race. In contrast to the marathon’s large Japanese component, Hawaii residents make up the store’s primary customer base, accounting for up to 80 percent of annual sales, Nakashima says. Of the remaining 20 percent, former Hawaii residents who now live elsewhere in the U.S. make up the largest group, outnumbering Mainland or foreign visitors.

Friday and Saturday - the two days before the race - typically are the busiest, with out-of-town visitors dotting the roads around Diamond Head and Kapahulu, taking trips down memory lane. “They may walk further down to Leonard’s [Bakery] and come back to us,” Nakashima says.

The marathon crowd also visits The Running Room after the race, proudly wearing their finishers’ T-shirts. “You can tell they’re in pain. They’re walking kind of funny,” Nakashima says. Some of the most popular post-race items are blister kits to soothe sore feet, she adds.

Proof of Concept

Photo Courtesy: Karin Kovalsky

New Balance Hawaii, which caters to people with a slightly larger foot (a niche market within a niche market) opened in Ward Centre two years ago. A year later, the company moved to a larger location in the middle of the complex. And the marathon is good for it, too.

Based on last year’s numbers, the marathon provides a significant boost to sales.

“December without a marathon would be 15 percent lower,” says general manager Dennis Cowles.

Cowles explains part of the store’s success can be attributed to Hawaii residents tending to have wider than average feet. Typically, the standard width for men’s shoes is termed “C.” For women, that standard width is “B.” But New Balance Hawaii offers men’s widths ranging from the narrowest, AA, through to E, the widest designation. New Balance Hawaii’s men’s shoes go as wide as 6E. Women’s sizes extend to 4E.

Whether feet in Hawaii are wider because of the popularity of slippers and the custom of removing shoes at the front door, Cowles doesn’t venture to guess. But the average width he sells in Hawaii is 2E, a full one-half to five-eighths of an inch wider than the standard shoe size.

Cowles adds that market research and the experiences of other shoe retailers indicate the Hawaii market has room for growth for such specialty stores. Because of factors such as the weather and active lifestyles, sales of sports footwear in Hawaii never slows down, says Cowles, a veteran of the shoe industry for 15 years, 10 in Hawaii.

Larger stores may beat specialty stores in terms of price. But that’s not likely in fit, since most customers choose the style of shoes off the rack themselves, without an understanding of a particular model’s features. In contrast, specialty shops like The Running Room and New Balance Hawaii typically start with an assessment of a customer’s foot and their walking or running style - whether his or her foot tends to roll inward or outward or stay in a neutral position. Different models of shoes are designed to address these concerns and others goals such as running a marathon pain-free.

The prices may be higher, but some view it as an investment in a better-fitting shoe.

Marathon Men

Photo Courtesy: Karin Kovalsky

Talk about running in Hawaii and there’s a good chance someone will mention Brian Clarke. Program director of BC Endurance Trainings, Clarke has a long history of running and has written two books on the training process. His marathon-training program, begun in 1979, has seen a surge in participation this year, with about 85 people at any given workout of the three-times-a-week schedule. That compares with just over 50 people per session last year, he says. The mix of people differs at each session, but overall, 150 people are enrolled in Clarke’s program this year. The 18-week marathon program costs $225, and is one of nine running, walking, triathlon, bike and swim programs Clarke directs. His marathon group trains on Monday and Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings.

Clarke can’t pinpoint the reason for the rise in his marathon training enrollment, but says he has been somewhat surprised to see more people in their 40s, 50s and even 60s participating. “It used to be younger before É because, basically, marathons are a younger-people thing.”

For the Honolulu Marathon as a whole, the number of registered participants reached more than 30,000 in 2002 before dropping off to slightly more than 25,000 the next year. Since 2003, the numbers have been increasing and last year, 29,000 people registered.

Clarke is not the only trainer benefiting from the boom in interest. In 2000, Chet “The Jet” Blanton began “Team Jet” training, which includes marathon, triathlon, bike, swim and running programs. Blanton is no stranger to marathons and other endurance races, having completed 41 marathons, including the last 13 in Honolulu. Clearly one who likes a challenge, he has also completed 17 Ironman triathlons (which include a marathon as the third event after swimming and biking), and one mega-triathlon, 10 times the Ironman distance.

The marathon program is always the most popular of Team Jet’s programs, and this year Blanton has 132 people signed up. Those numbers are strong, but Blanton says he is seeing more interest in the much shorter Great Aloha Run, which takes place in February on a course of 8.15 miles.

People typically sign up for a training program for instruction as well as social reasons, Clarke and Blanton say. The set schedule helps to keep people accountable. Blanton explains, “If, after work, you are feeling crappy and you don’t want to show up, you know your friends will be there and they’ll ask you about it later.”

Besides friends, participants can take comfort in being a part of a group. Runners divide into groups based on their speed and comfort levels, with about five speeds of runners and a group of jog walkers. “There’s always someone ahead of you and always someone behind you,” he says philosophically. Team Jet’s 17-week marathon program costs $175 and meets on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings.

Beyond the Marathon

The Hawaii Tourism Authority has identified sports events as playing an important role in giving Hawaii worldwide media attention and generating awareness of Hawaii as a destination. As such, HTA allocates nearly $7.7 of its $50.1 million marketing budget for sports events. The 20 events the agency supports include the NFL Pro Bowl, the PGA Tour and professional surfing competitions.

As the team leader of Hawaii Bicycling League’s BikeEd program, Blanton keeps tabs on other sporting events. Besides the large Japanese participation in the marathon, he has noticed a growing interest among Japanese in HBL’s Century Bike Ride, a 100-mile ride that starts at Kapiolani Park and winds through east Honolulu and along the Windward coast.

There is so much Japanese participation in the ride that “it’s almost as if they own it,” Blanton says, chuckling. For whatever reason, Japanese visitors seem drawn to the ride. “About half don’t train,” he guesses. “They just do it.”

The Century Ride isn’t the kind of high-profile event HTA seems to have in mind. But Blanton, for one, likes the growing visitor element.
So does everyone who outfits them.

If the shoe doesn’t fit

Clayton Arakawa, owner of The Shoe Doctor, specializes in helping people with foot problems by providing custom-made shoe insoles. Among the goals of the orthotic insoles are to relieve foot pain and prevent injury - two things that are also high on a marathoner’s list of goals. In fact, he does most of his consultations at The Running Room and Runners Hi in Aiea.

Arakawa says he sees a slight rise in inquiries and sales starting in August, when many runners begin training for the marathon and find their feet hurting. Most of his customers are local. The Shoe Doctor’s customers need to allow about a week for the process, from the foot analysis, design and manufacture of the orthotic using a combination of digital technology and personal consultation, to trying it on and fitting it to the shoe. Out-of-towners simply don’t have the time, he says.

The pavement-pounding toll of marathon running on feet might take years, even decades to register. Perhaps the largest group of Arakawa’s clients are former long-distance runners, not, as one might imagine, women pained by years of wearing stylish but uncomfortable shoes. “They say, ‘I used to run, but now I walk. My foot is really sore,’” Arakawa says. Typically these former runners are in their 40s, 50s and 60s.

“With marathons, the more you do, the more you hurt your feet. Eventually, [the running] catches up to you,” he says.

A runner’s feet might not hurt today or this year, but 10 or 20 years from now, he explains.

When is the right time to make sure the three arches of your foot (yes, there are three) are properly supported with a $250 custom support? Arakawa gives the same advice commonly heard about cars: “Don’t wait ’til it’s broke before you fix it. Do your best to maintain it before that,” he says. “A marathon, eventually, will [cause that] ‘break’ and your feet will give you problems.”
Most people don’t practice the preventative approach and instead wait until long after their running heydays before seeking help. Sometimes 10 or even 20 years pass before a former marathoner enlists him to do something about their aching feet, Arakawa says.

Consider that just one more long-term, economic impact of the Honolulu Marathon on small business in Hawaii.