Anyone have any contacts with kit manufacturers / distributers?

--amadeus--

Just an idle thought that popped into my head... This site is getting bigger and busier all the time; we have over 100 people with training logs and even at 9am on a Thur morning there are 39 people logged on and reading it. I'd be pretty confident in saying that if we aren't the biggest website in teh country for running and athletics we're pretty close to it.

So it would be great if we could leverage that to everyones advantage. We're constantly talking about gear, everything from high end bikes to socks. So wouldn't it be good if we had proper reviews of new kit as it came on the market? And bearing in mind the exposure that these reviews would get wouldn't it be good if manufacturers and suppliers co-operated with us and gave out kit to us to try?

Ultimately everyone wins - we get shiny new kit for free and teh product gets a public platform where they reach (effectively free of charge) a lot of potential purchasers.

I did a quick google and it should be easy to find contacts for teh distributors but I am sure that people here must have contacts, so I thought I'd throw it open - anyone know anyone that could help?

Woddle

Fantastic idea, I know the rep in Ireland for pearl izumi and he's really trying to get the brand out there. I personally love all the pearl izumi gear that I've tried. He sells running and biking gear. So I'm sure he would be up for it.

RJC

Woddle wrote: »

Fantastic idea, I know the rep in Ireland for pearl izumi and he's really trying to get the brand out there. I personally love all the pearl izumi gear that I've tried. He sells running and biking gear. So I'm sure he would be up for it.

+1 their running stuff it top class. The vests have nice flat seams which prevent chaffing on the inside of the biceps (trivial but a huge thing when you are marathoning!) I need some new running vests though and I haven't seen them stocked yet (The edge in Cork).

If he wants to sell out of the boot of his car to me just PM me!!

--amadeus--

Thanks for the replies, the PMs and teh emails

I'll reply to the messages this evening but I wanted to bump this and also put down some guidelines...

There are three seperate "entities" at work here - there is Boards AC (very much Woddles brainchild and for which he and teh committee are responsible), A/R/T which I am 33% responsible for and Boards.ie, which is a whole different animal.

There have been some really excellent suggestions put forward so far and I really want to make them happen. Some of them (meet and train with speakers and goodies) fall into teh Boards AC area I think, on teh assumption that associates can also come along so I'll be inviting Woddle into those discussions and we'll hopefully make them happen and publicise them on here.

Generic "here is a new sports drink please let us know what you think of it" stuff I think falls neatly into the forum Review idea that I had and I'm going to work with the ppl who have come forward to make that happen too. My assumption on that is that the company hands over teh kit and we review it in teh same way that we would if we were a magazine - in other words there is no "editorial input" from teh company.

However there is also a bigger potential potential interaction. If your company wants to come in and have a more formal relationship - eg if you want to promote your sports brand, officially answer questions and generally be involved in teh site - then that is called commercial interaction and falls under teh remit of the Commercial Managers who are higher up teh food chain than I am!

So thanks for teh ideas, please keep them coming and I'l get back to you when we have news!

Munster_Gal

Sounds like a great idea A! But sure we wouldn't expect anything but great ideas from ya really

--amadeus--

Right quick update...

Things are looking good - I doubt we'll get flooded with endless supplies of high quality gear but as it stands I think we'll have some nice stuff and teh suppliers will get some great exposure. I think BAC will get some great things out of it as well, so thanks again and either myself or Woddle will let you know when there is some news!

Munster_Gal wrote: »

Sounds like a great idea A! But sure we wouldn't expect anything but great ideas from ya really

shels4ever

super work there...

osnola ibax

Someone should get onto garmin, the amount of exposure the forerunner gets here is unreal, I have read more about it here than anywhere else ok the web, it's how I discovered boards, by doing a search for "running watches", I'm sure they r prob to global to care but I'd say a large amount of sales are directly attributable to boards