The below photo was taken by my Blackberry and these shoes were spotted on the wall of Encinitas Movin Shoes. Karl Brandt and the older boys have a pretty cool collections of sneaks from their running days.
During a tour of Germany in the late 1960s, famed New Zealand runner and coach Arthur Lydiard met with craftsmen from the EB company who shared his vision of making a running shoe that wouldn't pinch and blacken a runner's toenails and would relieve stress on the Achilles tendon. Lydiard knew it was possible, as he was running 100-plus-mile weeks in shoes with an ample toe box while many of his compatriots had toes that were a greedy podiatrist's dream. The soft, one-piece kangaroo leather upper of the Marathon had plenty of wiggle room for the toes, and a built-in heel cup held the rear of the foot firmly in place. The shoes launched in 1970, and became available in the U. S. in 1974. They never caught on in a big way, partly because of the $32 price tag, more than twice the cost of other running shoes of the time. Lydiard also developed a 4-ounce racer in 1974 and in 1984 helped Converse develop a couple of very nice shoes.
Photo complitments of Joe Rubio of http://www.runningwarehouse.com/
Seriously the order form to order the EB Lydiard shoes in the back of the May 1977 Runners World Magazine. Fill out the information and send off and hope in a few months you get what you ordered. Crazy! That was the early days, now we do it all by internet, how did we live without it?
I had a pair of EB Lydiard trainers that I bought in 1978....my cousin borrowed them for a run and never returned them. I learned about them from a friend who ran marathons in the early 70s; it was a fringe activity back then. I would love to be able to get a pair now, as I recall the trainers had a low heel, which would work for Pose or Chi running.
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I had a pair of the EB Lydiard trainers as well. They were heavy, expensive, and wore out unbelievably quick especially when your running 100+ miles / wk. But I loved them anyway - at least they were comfortable & kept injuries at bay. Several guys on my team bought pairs as well. Brings back old times. Steve Noftle at Pinkerton Academy 1976
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