Shoe Fits as Sponsor but Not for Runners

Corporations exist to turn profits, which is also their motivation for sponsoring sporting events.

So why, then, would a company sponsor an event that in all likelihood improves the sales of competitors?

Saturday, the Kinney national high school cross-country championships will be run at Balboa Park’s Morley Field. Kinney will fly 64 of the top runners in the country to San Diego, house them in the Hotel Del Coronado for three nights, feed them, entertain them and . . . and make them wear Kinney shoes while running, right?

Wrong. None of the competitors is expected to be in Kinney shoes Saturday. Among five favorites in Saturday’s meet who have run in past Kinney championships, none could remember having even seen anyone run cross-country or track in Kinney shoes.

Sarah Schwald of Spokane, Wash., who will be running in her third Kinney meet and is one of the girls’ favorites, said she wasn’t surprised that Kinney doesn’t push its shoes but has trouble convincing her schoolmates of that.

“A lot of the kids ask me ‘Well, do they give you running shoes when you get out there.’ It’s hard for them to understand,” she said.

Kinney doesn’t give away footwear.

Schwald said she wears Reeboks during races and trains in Adidas. Celeste Susnis, last year’s winner, said she wears Nikes. Bryan Dameworth, the favorite in the boys’ race, said he races in Reeboks, and Melody Fairchild, the favorite in the girls’ race, trains in Adidas and races in Nikes.

Training or racing in Kinney shoes, it seems, would be akin to Tony Gwynn stepping to the plate with an aluminum bat, or Lee Iacocca driving to work in a Ford.

Said Megan Thompson of Kenosha, Wis., the No. 3 qualifier from the Midwest region who will be running in her fourth Kinney, “I don’t even think Kinney makes running shoes.”

It does, under the name Stadia, a brand Kinney initially tried to market to serious cross-country runners.

“When the Kinney (race) started 11 years ago,” said Dave Goldberg, a senior director for Kinney, “There was a running boom, and Kinney was going after the market. It had just introduced its Stadia line. The company thought, ‘Here’s a chance to get into a sport and own it.’ ”

Kinney’s marketing has since taken a new tack--away from high-end athletic shoes. But the company’s public relations arm has decided to stay with the cross-country meet, even at a six-figure cost, according to Goldberg.

“The biggest effect we’ve had is in communities,” Goldberg said. “The teachers come up to us, the coaches write us, the parents, all of them send hundreds of letters telling us that this is the greatest thing in the world. It’s a positive image type of thing.”

In fact, the races are almost secondary to the weekend as a whole.

“To me,” Schwald said, “it’s just a lot of fun. I just love to go down there. We get to do so many things--I basically go down there for the fun of it.”

Added Thompson, “The whole weekend is really memorable, just meeting, talking to, and spending time with all the other runners.”

Of course, there is intense competition.

“After all, it is a national championship,” Goldberg said.

There’s even a long winning streak. The girls’ Midwest team has won six years in a row.

“It’s really a big thing for us,” said Susnis, who will race in her fourth Kinney. “We have a tradition of running into the ocean with our uniforms on when we win. It’s something that started before I even showed up.”

KINNEY CROSS-COUNTRY FACTS What: 11th annual Kinney national cross-country championships, with the top eight boys and girls from each of four regions.

Where: Morley Field, Balboa Park.

When: Saturday. Girls’ race, 10 a.m.; boys’ race, 10:45 a.m.

Course: 5,000 meters for both.

Girls’ favorites: Melody Fairchild of Boulder, Colo., is the odds-on favorite. She ran 18:07 to win the Midwest regional in Kenosha, Wis., on Nov. 25. Celeste Susnis of Wheatfield, Ind., who last year was nearly four seconds faster than Fairchild and won the national meet at 17:14.4, was second in this year’s Midwest regional in 18:33. Other regional winners include Sarah Schwald of Spokane, Wash. (17:14 in the West), Megan Flowers of Fort Worth, Tex. (17:30 in the South) and Carol Zajac of Pittsburgh (18:17.8 in the Northeast).

Boys’ favorites: Bryan Dameworth of Agoura figures to put a finishing touch on his unbeaten season with a Kinney championship. His 14:39 first-place effort in the regionals last weekend was 20 seconds faster than second-place Louie Quintana of Arroyo Grande. Other regional winners: Michael McWilliams of Grove City, Pa. (15:49.9 in the Northeast), Teddy Mitchell of Longwood, Fla. (14:57 in the South) and Stewart Henderson of McDonald, Ohio (15:59 in the Midwest).